TOKYO: In a survey released by Japan External Trade Organisation (JETRO) this month, Pakistan was ranked top in Asia for Japanese investors.
Board of Investment (BOI) Chairman Naeem Y Zamindar, who is visiting Tokyo met JETRO President Yasushi Akahoshi who apprised him of JETRO’s activities in promoting trade and investment cooperation between Japan and Pakistan and presented the results of JETRO survey of Japanese companies in Asia released this month.
In the survey, Pakistan was rated as the top in Asia by Japanese companies for expected profits in 2018, plans for expansion of operations and hiring of local labour force. These results indicate high confidence of Japanese companies in future economic prospects of Pakistan and quality of labour force.
The BOI chairman also met Japan Senior Deputy Foreign Minister Kazuyuki Yamazaki. In the meeting, matters of mutual interest came under discussion. BOI chairman informed Yamazaki that Pakistan is aiming for a nine per cent economic growth rate by 2020 and there was a general consensus across political spectrum in Pakistan on achieving sustained economic growth. He also stressed PricewaterhouseCoopers (PWC) projection that Pakistan will be joining G-20 by 2030.
Yamazaki welcomed Zamindar to Japan and said that Pakistan-Japan relations have a long history. He remarked that given Pakistan’s low labour cost and a young population, it represents an attractive environment for Japanese investors. He underscored that there was potential for mutual cooperation between Japan and Pakistan. It was agreed that the forthcoming high-level economic policy dialogue provides a good platform to continue the conversation on how to best realise this potential.
In a meeting with the BOI chairman, Pakistan Japan Business Cooperation Committee Chairman Teruo Asada stressed the importance of continuing high-level engagement between the governments and businesses of the two countries and discussed the scheduling of the next round of Joint Government Business Dialogue later this year.
Earlier, JICA Director General South Asia Keiichiro Nakazawa, also called on BOI chairman. Senior management of Mitsui Corporation also met with him to discuss the possibility of developing new project investments in Pakistan.
