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A delegation from an Indian multinational has visited Islamabad to explore the opportunities of investing in Pakistan.
Ruia brothers Shashi and Ravi of the ESSAR group met Pakistan Prime Minister Yusuf Raza Gillani informed him that the group had $40 million investment worldwide, and expressed their preparedness to invest in the energy, steel and shipping sectors.
Officially, Pakistan is yet announce any change in its economic policies with India, which are currently limited and restrictive. But the new PPP-led government has seems keen to better bilateral economic relations.
India's External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee, who was in Islamabad last month, and the PPP leader Asif Ali Zardari had had long discussions on prospects of investment and JVs by industrialists and investors of both sides in each other’s nations. One of the proposals they discussed was investment to develop the Thar coal power project.
An official statement said Gillani told the Ruia brothers that “since Pakistan is deficient in electricity, it would welcome investment in power generation, especially in developing the Thar coal reserves.”
Gillani was not specific in saying that Pakistan would welcome Indian investment, but he told the ESSAR delegation that Pakistan offered a “liberal and attractive package of incentives” for investors -- as 100% foreign equity is permitted and there are no restrictions on remittances of royalty, technical and franchise fee, capital, profits and dividends.
The government would soon announce a power policy that would contain incentives to attract foreign investment, he added. (Source: The Hindu)
June 4, 2008
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