ISLAMABAD (APP) Board of Investment (BoI) and Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) have signed an agreement for strengthening investment climate in Pakistan. The agreement was signed by Takatoshi Nishikata, Chief Representative of JICA and Saleem H. Mandviwalla, Minister of State/Chairman, BoI. Officials of from BoI and JICA were also present on the occasion. Under the agreed plan, BoI and JICA will conduct a joint survey for investment climate improvement in Karachi. It is highly predicated that the survey will open vistas of opportunities for foreign investors including Japanese to invest in Pakistani market. The survey will focus on the industrial area around Port Qasim by identifying the problems and bottlenecks in attracting investment and propose action plans for their solutions. The survey will cover the issues of administrative regulations, permissions and authorizations on corporate activities. The scope of the survey will also encompass industrial infrastructure project especially in transportation and power sector. Currently, JICA's Investment Climate Improvement Advisor, Masao Nagase is working with BOI by suggesting ways and means for the improvement of investment climate in Pakistan. In this April, under the initiative of the Advisor and with the cooperation of BOI, Japanese investors submitted "Problem- Analysis & Solution Action" to BoI which covers the requests from Japanese's investors. To materialize these proposals, BOI is exerting maximum efforts to improve investment climate in Pakistan. The objective of this survey is to support such efforts of BOI. In this connection, a team of experts are scheduled to visit Pakistan by the end of this year and JICA further intends to send Pakistani officials working in BOI on training to Japan for their capacity building and to enhance their horizon regarding investment climate improvement in Pakistan.