US Assistant Secretary of State Alice Wells has said that the United States has planned to send 15 trade delegations to Pakistan in 2020.
“The US Commerce Department has already stepped up its activity in Pakistan with 15 trade delegations planned for the next year, and once the new expanded Development Finance Corporation or DFC is stood up, Pakistan is going to be a country of great interest,” a paper read by Wells at a Washington think-tank, Wilson Centre, stated.
As per the paper, the DFC will have more than double the investment cap than Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC), increasing from 29 billion to 60 billion, “enabling projects that have high standards and are financially sustainable over the long haul.”
The paper further highlighted the commercial connections between Pakistan and USA. “A US firm ‘Excelerate’ is prepared to potentially invest more than $300 million to upgrade a floating storage regasification unit in Pakistan’s first LNG terminal. ExxonMobil has been working to support Pakistan’s ambitious effort to access new LNG supplies.
“Over the last five years, PepsiCo has invested $800 million to expand its infrastructure and diversify products, while Coca-Cola has invested $500 million in the last couple of years, providing thousands of jobs for Pakistanis. Uber Technologies entered the Pakistani market in 2016 and currently operates across nine cities, providing employment opportunities for thousands of Pakistanis.”
