Mohammad Ashad Islamabad
Finance Minister Shaukat Tarin and Japanese Am-bassador Kuninori Matsuda, Wednesday, reviewed the entire spectrum of business and investment rela-tions and identified areas for further strengthening and expanding economic cooperation between Paki-stan and Japan.
Kuninori Matsuda, the Ambassador of Japan called on the Federal Minister for Finance and Revenue, ShaukatTarin here at the Finance Division. SAPM on Finance and Revenue Dr. Waqar Masood was also present during the meeting.
While extending a warm welcome to Kuninori Matsuda, the Ambassa-dor of Japan, the Finance Minister stated that Paki-stan and Japan enjoy sound friendly relations since 1952 which have been getting stronger with each passing day.
The Finance Minister lauded the cooperation ex-tended by the Government of Japan to Pakistan in the fields of Education and Infrastructure develop-ment.
He said that Japan is one of the major devel-opment partners of Pakistan and he firmly believes that the cooperation will further strengthen in multi-ple fields for the mutual benefit of both the coun-tries.
The Ambassador congratulated the Finance Minister on assuming his responsibilities on behalf of the Finance Minister of Japan Taro Aso.
The Finance Minister and the Ambassador discussed issues of mutual interest. The Finance Minister gave a brief overview of the economy to the Ambassador.
His Excellency Ambassador of Japan said tha t Japan greatly values its bilateral relations with Pakistan.
He briefed the Finance Minister about operations of the Japanese entities in Pakistan and expressed con-fidence that business and economic linkages would further strengthen between the two countries.
The Ambassador informed the Finance Minister that Japan was now embarking on a project of Human Resource exchange with Pakistan under which the Japanese labour market will be opened for highly skilled Pakistanis.
He said this will provide job op-portunities in Japan to Pakistanis, especially in the areas of Information Technology and Science & Technology.
The Finance Minister highly appreciated and wel-comed the Japanese initiative and suggested strong and close Japanese collaboration with the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis as well as Overseas Em-ployment Corporation.
The Ambassador further apprised the Finance Minister that Japan was focus-ing on developing a strong export base in Pakistan.
For the purpose, Japan was looking beyond the tra-ditional sectors of textiles and automobiles. Japan saw opportunities of investing in food processing, fishing and agriculture.
Finance Minister welcomed the Japanese initiatives and assured of Government’s fullest support for the purpose. He opined that goods manufactured in SEZs should be exported.
The Minister also touched upon the new Auto policy which has offered incen-tives to the new investors and will have a far reach-ing impact on the development of the auto industry in Pakistan.
