The President of Pakistan Asif Ali Zardari attaches a great importance to investment and business in Pakistan. To encourage investment, the Board of Investment was set up by the Pakistani government to fulfill all investor needs.

To make it the vibrant organization envisioned by the President, the BOI has gone through a transformation in its structure and chain of command. The new BOI is an autonomous organization directly under the prime minister’s chairmanship, empowered to attract investment in Pakistan. The new setup has provided the BOI with the opportunity to deliver its functions more efficiently and effectively.

Pakistan is among major emerging economies of the region, with a consumer base of 180 million and a prime location in the heart of Asia.

Pakistan’s location gives it access to all the growing markets of the world. In order to capitalize on its strategic location, Pakistan has adopted liberal and investor-friendly policies, broad features of which include proactive facilitation, guarantee of equal treatment to both local and foreign investors, easy tariff structures and a liberal regime on the repatriation of profits. These strategies have borne results with a record inflow of foreign investment of $23 billion. Recently, the volatile environment in the region and the global financial crises have affected these figures. However, the Pakistani government now plans to undertake further structural reforms in various sectors of the economy to attract investors.

According to the World Bank Ease of Doing Business Report for 2011, Pakistan ranks higher than BRIC countries (Brazil, Russia, India and China) in most categories. If you take a closer look at the indicators, you will see that in “Ease of Doing Business,” Pakistan ranks better than India. In enforcing contracts, it stands higher than Italy, Switzerland and China. This year Pakistan has risen five notches in the Global Competitiveness Index, securing 118th place out of 142 economies. Although this rank is not laudable, still we feel that we are headed in the right direction and we must work hard to improve our standards across the board.

In 2007, Goldman Sachs included Pakistan in the “NEXT 11” emerging economies of the world that after the BRIC economies would be a big part of global GDP by 2050. The initiatives taken by the BOI to set up special economic zones and other industrial zones will further harness the investment. The Board of Investment assures its full cooperation and support to the investors who are ready to come to Pakistan. While there remain legitimate concerns about law and order in the country, this has not yet palpably affected the ability of foreign businesses to conduct operations in Pakistan. Several foreign companies enjoy a profitable business with satisfaction in Pakistan, and many of them are contemplating and expanding their business.