President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI), Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan heading a delegation visited Turbat, Baluchistan to explore the business and investment opportunities for its members in the Special Economic Zone (SEZ) that has been planned for the area.
The delegation was representing various sectors including real estate and construction, IT, pharmaceuticals, steel, solar energy, edible oil, marble, granite and flour milling, said a press release issued here.
Turbat is a huge area in which a new SEZ had been planned that offers lucrative incentives for investment.
During its visit, the ICCI delegation met with Naseer Khan Kashani, Chairman, Gwadar Port Authority, Maj. Gen Ahmad Bilal, Inspector General Frontier Corps (North) and other relevant authorities to discuss possibilities of business and investment for private sector in Turbat and Gwadar.
The delegation was informed that the District Administration of Kech and the private sector were launching a SEZ, located on the crossroads of CPEC and Economic Cooperation Organization (ECO).
The Government of Pakistan has recently announced opening of new crossing sites at Pakistan Iran Border to increase bilateral border trade, which would supplement the efforts to generate socio-economic activities in Southern Baluchistan by establishing processing, packaging and manufacturing units.
The said Special Economic Zone was comprised of Energy Park, Minerals and Materials Park, Metals Park, food Park and Technology Park.
The SEZ was likely to be functional in the next six months which would open new avenues of prosperity and development in the area.
Speaking on the occasion, Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan, President, ICCI thanked Chairman Gwadar Port Authority and Maj. Gen Ahmad Bilal, IGFC (North) for providing a comprehensive briefing to the ICCI delegation about investment opportunities in SEZs in Balochistan.
He said in terms of area, Balochistan was the largest province of Pakistan with a lot of natural resources, so it should be given more focus for business and investment promotion to harness its natural resources for the better economic development of the country and for uplift of living standards of its poor people.
He said currently most of the products including dairy items were coming from Iran to Turbat and other areas of Balochistan, therefore, the Pakistani business community had a huge opportunity to supply local products to the people of these areas at competitive prices.
He emphasized that the government should provide more incentives and security to the business community for JVs and investment in SEZs of Baluchistan to help the province achieve more progress and prosperity and play a far more effective role in the development of the national economy.
He assured that ICCI would play a role to highlight the investment opportunities available in SEZs in Baluchistan to attract maximum investment in them.
