Staff Reporter
Islamabad
A delegation of Kingdom of Saudi Arabia (KSA), led by Khalid Saleh Al-Modaifer, Deputy Minister of Energy, Industry and Mineral Resources for Mining, Abdul Razak Dawood, Advisor to PM on Commerce, Textile, Industries & Production, and Investment to discuss investment prospects in Energy, Power and Mining & Mineral sectors.
The meeting was also attended by Chairman Board of Investment (BOI), Zubair Gillani, and other representatives from Government sector. Saudi side was represented by Ambassador of Saudi Arabia to Pakistan, Nawaf bin Said Al-Malki, and other experts from Energy, Power and Mining sectors.
Advisor to the Prime Minister welcomed the delegation and assured them complete facilitation from Board of Investment on different matters pertaining to Saudi FDI plans for Pakistan. Underlining the importance of Energy for Pakistan, Advisor to the PM apprised the delegation of the approval of Alternate Energy Policy by the government which provides immense investment opportunities to KSA companies in Power sector.
He said that Pakistan is not a cheap energy country and the Government is focusing on development of alternate energy to bring the costs down. He added that the current mix of alternate energy is 4% of the total and the Government is looking at 20% to 30% of the energy target from renewable sources in the coming years. He urged KSA companies to invest in in Power sector in order to get high returns on their investment.
Further he apprised the delegation that Special Economic Zones (SEZs) provide incentives to investors by allowing duty free import of machinery besides tax holidays for ten years and urged the KSA companies to make investment in these zones to get better returns on their investments.
