Signalling the powerful military’s key role in Pakistan, Army chief General Asim Munir has set up a Special Investment Facilitation Council, taking direct charge of the country’s economy, according to local sources.
The council will be based out of the Karachi Corps headquarters. On Tuesday evening, a Lieutenant General-level officer briefed top business leaders and investors about it through a PowerPoint presentation, said sources. Army officials also promised investors a massive support structure.
This ‘one window, one-stop’, bureaucratic red tape-free operation was initially designated for Middle Eastern and Chinese investors. The Army officials have now extended it to Pakistani investors, to facilitate investments in corporate farming, mining, minerals and IT sectors.
They are expecting multi-million investments very soon, said sources.
Keen to bring Pakistan out of the economic crisis, Munir has been talking to the United Arab Emirates (UAE), Saudi Arabia, Qatar and other friendly countries.
MEETING WITH BIZMEN LAST WEEK
CNN-News18 has already reported about Munir’s marathon four-hour meeting with 50-odd prominent businessmen, including Zubair Motiwala, chairman, Businessmen Group (BMG), Tariq Yousuf, president, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry and Irfan Iqbal Sheikh, president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry (FPCCI), last week.
The meeting came on the back of a traders’ strike on Saturday protesting the soaring cost of living, including higher fuel and utility bills and record depreciation of the Pakistan rupee against the US dollar.
The army chief updated the business community about his recent visit to Saudi Arabia and said Saudi Crown Prince Mohammad Bin Salman assured him of investing USD 25 billion in Pakistan under the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), the Dawn newspaper reported on Tuesday.
In the same meeting, Gen Munir also “assured businessmen of bringing USD 25-30 billion investment from Qatar and Kuwait in his next visit." In another report by the Geo News website, FPCCI president Sheikh said that the army chief had told the business community that Saudi Arabia had assured Pakistan of investment in IT, minerals, agriculture and defence.
“COAS Munir requested for USD 10 billion to be kept in the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). This will be returned in the form of the Pakistani rupee or goods so that the foreign exchange could increase," Sheikh was quoted as saying.
The army chief said he was banking on the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) “to do away with the bureaucratic hurdles", which were identified by the Saudi Crown Prince as obstacles to investment.
With PTI Inputs
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