LAHORE-The USAID Investment Promotion Activity (IPA) is a five-year project that is helping to strengthen Pakistan’s business enabling environment, build the capacities of Pakistani institutions focused on investment promotion, improve the ecosystem of foreign direct investment (FDI), and increase United States-Pakistan bilateral trade and investment.
This was the crux of the presentation by Deputy Chief of Party, USAID Investment Promotion Activity (IPA) Ammar Ali Qureshi during an orientation session on IPA project by USAID which was held in collaboration with LCCI. President of Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Kashif Anwar was the chief guest of the event.
LCCI President Kashif Anwar said that we are grateful to the management of USAID IPA for collaborating with LCCI with regard to holding orientation session whose main aim is to make LCCI members aware about the recently launched ‘Pakistan Investment Pipeline program’ by USAID Investment Promotion Activity.
He informed the house that under this program USAID IPA has developed a pipeline of investment opportunities in Pakistan that are ready to be connected to external sources of capital. With the help of this important program, specific local companies will be identified who have the potential to raise international capital by means of matchmaking with foreign investors to mobilize Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan.
The LCCI President said that as per the call of USAID IPA, we have tried to take on board interested members who are eager to raise foreign investment through adopting investment proposition, broadening the scope of business activities across borders and getting serious for commercial conversations with new buyers/clients.
He said that in the current scenario, where Pakistan is facing steep economic challenges, there is a dire need to prioritize local Investment while at the same time focusing on Foreign Direct Investment. I attach great hope with this program and wish the best of luck to the team of USAID IPA who is here to explain us as to how our local companies can get themselves registered to take full advantage of this unique opportunity.
Ammar Ali Qureshi said that the project is also helping to remove barriers to investment and trade by facilitating Pakistani-led improvements in government regulations and improving the overall investment climate.
He said that one of the key objectives of IPA is to facilitate matchmaking of Pakistani businesses with foreign investors to mobilize FDI. Many investment opportunities find investors without any institutional assistance, however, there are still areas of the economy where market, information or coordination failures mean that capital and skills do not reach the right areas.
He said that IPA’s aim is to make investment opportunities available to potential investors based on matching and market intelligence and support their long-term investment decision making. For this purpose, IPA is proactively developing a pipeline of investment opportunities in Pakistan to showcase them to prospective investors and bring in international investment (FDI – Vertical (platform) FDI, Horizontal FDI, conglomerate FDI etc). This pipeline will clearly define investment opportunities within Pakistan that are ready to go to market and hence enable pursuit of new investments into the country. The Pipeline is intended to prioritize high value strategic and efficiency-seeking investments with positive spill overs for overall export of firms, job creation, and growth of productivity.