http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...10-2-2007_pg7_9


Investment moot likely to fetch $3.4b: minister

* Prime minister to open two-day conference on March 5

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: An Overseas Pakistanis Investment Conference in Islamabad next month is likely to fetch investments of about $3.4 billion by Pakistanis living abroad, Ghulam Sarwar Khan, federal minister for labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis, told reporters on Friday.

Khan said that as many as 257 investors had expressed willingness to participate in the conference and the number of participants was likely to increase by the time of the event. He added that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz would inaugurate the two-day event on March 5.

Khan said that the ministry had sent forms to Pakistanis living abroad, seeking their willingness to invest a minimum amount of $2 million per person.

The biggest investment is likely from the United States where 55 people have pledged $1,129 million, the minister said, adding that 38 Pakistanis living in the United Kingdom had promised to invest $935 million, while 36 others residing in Saudi Arabia were ready to invest $300 million.

The minister said that most of the expatriates wanted to invest in livestock, information technology, health and education sectors, besides investing in the capital market.

“We have received response from countries like Canada, China, Denmark and France, but the Pakistanis there have not stated their amount of investment and area of interest,” Khan said.

He said that the provincial government would protect the interests and the investments of the overseas Pakistani investors and their concerns would also be properly addressed.

He said that Pakistan International Airlines would give 30 percent discount to investors and the ministry had made hotel bookings on their behalf, but the visitors would pay for their stay.

That is a good start to take mobalise overseas Pakistanis, hopefully government announces good incentives.

Have anyone recieved these forms in other places? I am registerd with OPF and local embassy in Malaysia, but have not heard any news in papers here nor recieved any form.

At least there must have been some advertisements in local newzpapers in countriese where Pakistani's are doing business.

no idea bro.

But its a good thing to get Pakistanis to invest in their own country. Over $2 billion from Pakistanis in the USA and UK. That would be a great start.


http://www.nation.com.pk/daily/feb-2007/10/nationalnews1.php

250 investors to attend overseas Pakistanis investment moot

JAVAID-UR-RAHMAN


ISLAMABAD - Overseas Pakistanis Division, Ministry of Labour, and Manpower & Overseas Pakistan is organising a two days overseas Pakistanis Investment conference on March 5, 2007.

“About 250 prospective overseas Pakistanis investors have so far confirmed their participation and it can also be increased,” said Minister for Labor Manpower and &Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan.

He said that about 250 prospective overseas Pakistanis investors including 36 from Saudi Arabia, 29 for UK, 22 from UAE, 12 from Qatar and some foreign investors (partners of overseas Pakistanis) have also shown their interest to attend the conference.

He further said that potential overseas Pakistanis want to know about the investment opportunities and the regulatory environment available in the country.

Talking about objective of the conference he said conference is being conducted to attract foreign direct investment from Overseas Pakistanis and to provide information to the overseas Pakistanis about investment opportunities in the country.

He said that the conference would offer products and facilities for investment in the areas of Overseas Pakistanis.

Such Packages will be provided by Federal Government and Provincial governments, and various public sector organizations, he added.

To a question he said that conference would also provide opportunities to provide the interested parties to display their products and services at the exhibition pavilion of the convention centre.

To a question about strategy of the conference, he said that the products and opportunities offered by the Federal and provincial governments and the government of AJK will be displayed at the conference of the choice of overseas Pakistanis investors.

He said that Prime Minister has held two meeting (1st Novermber and 18th December 2006) in which he reviewed the preparation for the conference.

Prime Minister showed keen interest in the preparations for the conference and offered suggestion in this regards, he added.

NRP's or POPO's can be a major avenue for economic development in Pakistan.

This is a great idea and gives us guys who were born and raised abroad an opportunity to help out. But the scheme looks to be catered for people who have large amounts to invest.

minimum of $2 million per person bro. Last time I checked i didnt have that kind of money!

There are 257 investors and they will invest 3-4 billion $ in Pakistan so in average it mean 10-15 millions each. Not to many people have that kind of money.

Yes bro certainly is a hefty amount.



I wonder if there are smaller schemes for people who have money but not vast sums to invest.

this sounds like baloney.

Pakistan newspapers frequently get figures and currencies mixed up.

why do you think its baloney? do you have any reasons for this or is this just the kind of mood you are in?

its baloney because it doesnt make sense. I dont believe overseas Pakistanis have $2 billion ready to invest in Pakistan.

Additionally, articles are published everyday about Pakistan, Musharraf etc. we dont need to comment useless articles from worthless magazines.

In another post you have claimed that you are working for JPM, if that is true, I am loosing my trust on JPM because of the quality of people they are employing.

If you are a litle bit related to financial world then you must have an idea that overseas Pakistani's have remitted $ 2.05 Billion in half of this finacial year.

Still you think that it is a baloony and articles like this appear every day in papers?

As I know the Pakistani's are considered the richest community overses in their respective countries. Even if this figure was $20 Billion the people from finacial world would not been surprised.

I think what the govt should do is to create an Overseas Pakistanis Investment Pool, kind of like an investment account where people could invest from $100 and more. And people should be given a number which will be used to show information of their investment online and choices of areas where they would like the investment to goto.

This should be made like a public trust which should have a board of directors who would be some of the best professional folks from the business world and should manage and invest in the desired fields. Once the investments materialize, each investor should get their return based on their percentage of investment in the investment pool per year.

I think this way alot of people like us who could invest a small amount of money every year will be able to generate billions of dollars in investment in areas where large investors won't put their money mainly due to less profitability like education, health, social infrastructure, governance etc...

There are an estimated 12 million overseas Pakistanis sending about $5 billion dollars per year to people at home. These people could easily invest $100 to $1000 every year in the propsed Overseas Pakistanis Investment pool bringing $1 billion to $10 billion in yearly investments to Pakistan which could take the economy to double digit growth.

isnt that a bit like government bonds?

I work as a computer programmer in that company, mostly related to databases. I dont work on mutual funds or stocks or banking. Dont form opinions about JPMorgan's financial abilities.

That is a good idea to attract the small scale investments, it can succeed if the professional people like Shaukat Aziz are in power and there is political stability. If tommorow some politician takes over the government, you kno the results, that is basic reason why overseas Pakistanis would aviod giving money in to politicians hand, most of them would prefer to invest and control themselves.

The people who send remittences are doing various jobs overseas and they send $5 billion annually, however Pakistani business community overseas is very rich and if government can attract their moeny it would be a huge success.

Essentially the concept is similar to investing in govt bonds. But unlike govt bonds, investors in this pool will be shareholders of the trust and will own the trust and get their percentage of yearly dividends. Its kind of like a corporation of overseas investors which invests based on its priorities.

The govt bonds are a messy business and held by the state bank for simply financing govt exenditures. This initiative is an investment approach to fill in the required capital in areas where the govt has to take in loans from foreign donors but the process is slow and the amount of money is not much. Plus if the trsut has the best qualified professionals, and run it like a corporation, it could become a very good source of income and savings for investors and a potential capital generator and/or venture capitalist for country's financing requirements.

A fantastic idea bro now if we could only get the higher ups to take notice, a good place to start would be influential people in the overseas communities. They could perhaps arrange meetings with government delegations to get some sort of project off to a start.

Thanks Waz for appreciation. I did send the same to the PresidentofPakistan.gov.pk. Lets see what kind of response, if any, we get from there.

ok, i am trying to be devils advocate here so please dont get annoyed!

but isnt that like a bank?

we invest in the 'corporation', the 'corporation' then invests in businesses we then get our return. I know a bank only gives a fixed interest rate annually and in your scenario there would be an equal sgare of profit and i assume loss as well?

well thats like a modarraba isnt it?

It’s cool. I think I’ll do the same and get others to write as well with your idea in mind.

I think what umiqum means is more like an investment arm.

A large pool of $s from overseas pakistanis, backed by professionals, could only mean more profits. UAE, Singapore have investment arms of this sort (only difference is that they are backed by the governments) to invest in avenues they think would reap benefits in the future. More like venture capitalists.

Temasek, owned by Singapore government, which in turns owns PSA, has now got the contract for Gwadar. If I am not wrong Etisalat is also owned by Dubai Holdings etc.

Well banks, corporations and bonds are a standard set of businesses that are being performed in accordance with the needs of these businesses. But what I am proposing is a special needs initiative that is probably short to medium term (10-20 yrs) while the economy is in basic development mode. Its just another way of attracting large scale investment from overseas Pakistanis or even resident Pakistanis who would like to invest some of their savings into a sort of public trust that is managed by the best business folks.

I am not saying its an alternative to banks, corporations and/or bonds but another way to maximize investment capital generation and speed up the process of development. At this point in our economy, their is maximum room for development in every sector, but the govt lacks enough investment to address each sector, though the investment is increasing.

The domestic banks only have limited resources for the govt and the foreign banks are still reluctant to invest too much yet. The foreign banks are the biggest source of govt funding but even that is not more than $3 to $4 billion over the term of the project and that depends on the profitability of the area of investment as well.

So if we had a public-private trust which could gather and supervise people's investment in areas where the conventional or traditional investment is not going then it'll help those neglected areas to catch up fast and contribute to the rest of the economy rather than waiting for the govt to have enough funds after 10 to 20 years when other more profitable areas have been developed.

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p...8-2-2007_pg5_10


Overseas Pakistani investors to attend OPIC

Staff Report

ISLAMABAD: A high-level meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz here was informed that a large number of overseas Pakistanis, interested in investing in the sectors like IT, construction, agro-farming, light engineering and services sectors, will attend the Overseas Pakistanis Investment Conference (OPIC) with an investment potential of about $3b.

The PM presided over a briefing on the Overseas Pakistanis Investment Conference by Federal Minister for Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis Ghulam Sarwar Khan at the PM's House Tuesday.

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said that the forthcoming Overseas Pakistanis Investment Conference (OPIC) being held in Islamabad should effectively be used to galvanize maximum number of overseas Pakistanis to invest in Pakistan.

The PM said that overseas Pakistanis are encouraged to invest in the country because it offers attractive investment climate in the country as borne out by the record Foreign Direct Investment of $3.8 billion in the country last year. Another factor that has evinced the interest of overseas Pakistanis is the fact that Pakistan offers level playing field both to Pakistani and foreign investors without discrimination, the PM added.

The PM said that the conference would provide an opportunity to overseas Pakistanis to benefit from investment opportunities in Pakistan and help them take advantage of the investment opportunities in the country.

The PM said that there is an urgent need to familiarize the overseas Pakistanis of the vast opportunities of investment existing in the country. He said the overseas Pakistanis are already remitting over 4 billion dollars to Pakistan, which helps towards its economic development.

Ghulam Sarwar Khan updated the PM about the preparation to hold the OPIC on March 5-6, 2007. He said that a large number of Overseas Pakistanis seriously interested in investing in the sectors like IT, Construction, Agro-farming, light engineering and services sectors will attend the Conference with an investment potential of about 3 billion dollars.

He said that participants form 26 from countries including the US, UK, Europe, Middle East, Canada, Far East and other regions have shown their interest to attend the Conference. He also said that steps would be taken to ensure that the investment done by the Overseas Pakistanis is secure and profitable.

The meeting was also attended by Federal Minister for Education Lt. Gen. (Retd) Javed Ashraf Qazi, Minister for Industries Jahangir Khan Tareen, Dy Chairman Planning Commission M. Akram Sheikh, Chairman NAVTEC Altaf M. Saleem and senior officials.

Home | Business

http://www.dailytimes.com.pk/default.asp?p..._3-3-2007_pg5_7


Moot expected to attract $6B in foreign investment

ISLAMABAD: Ghulam Sarwar Khan, the minister for labour, manpower and overseas Pakistanis, said on Friday that he hoped that the two-day Overseas Pakistanis Investment Conference, starting on Monday, would attract over $ 6 billion foreign investment.

“About 222 overseas Pakistanis, who are expected to offer $ 2.964 billion investment, have re-confirmed their participation in the conference so far. We are hopeful that this number will definitely go beyond 250 overseas Pakistanis,” he told a press conference at the Press Information Department (PID).

The minister said President Pervez Musharraf was likely to open the conference and it would be attended by all provincial chief ministers and the prime minister of Azad Jammu and Kashmir (AJK). He said 454 overseas Pakistanis were registered for the conference initially, 392 of them had confirmed their participation with expected investment offer of $ 6.122 billion investment while 222 had re-confirmed their participation with expected offer of $ 2.964 billion.

“The number of participants would have been higher had we not set minimum investment limit at $ 2 million and changed its schedule from February to March. However, the overseas Pakistanis with less than $2 million investment offer are also welcome,” he said. staff report

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http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=5349...m=&supDate=


250 expatriates to attend investors conference


ISLAMABAD (March 05 2007): The Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis is holding a two-day 'Overseas Pakistanis Investment Conference' here from Monday. The main objective is provide a platform to overseas Pakistanis to interact with the private sector and policy makers in the country, besides being instrumental in attracting foreign direct investment (FDI) in Pakistan, an official told APP here on Sunday.

Highlighting the features of the Conference, he said that the conference would also provide an ideal opportunity to bring together all relevant stakeholders from federal and provincial governments, local business people and potential overseas investors for identifying areas of investment opportunities and forming trade and joint venture partnership.

So far, he said, around 250 overseas Pakistani investors have confirmed their participation in the moot, while, more than 200 local businessmen have shown interest to participate in the conference. Due to the policies and efforts of the government, he said, the overseas Pakistanis in different part of the world including the UK, US, Europe and the Middle East and Far East regions are keen to invest in Pakistan.

He said that 64 Pakistani investors from US would attend the conference, 55 from United Kingdom, 9 from Canada and 3 from Italy. He said that the response from Middle East has been satisfactory as 23 and 19 overseas Pakistani investors are coming from Saudi Arabia and UAE. Remaining are from other countries.

The official said that Pakistani investors had shown interest in 30 areas, and the highest indication of their investment is of $500 million, $496 million and $372 million was recorded in power plants, construction and agri farming, respectively, while an investment of $906 million was offered in services, tourism, light engineering, information technology, pharmaceutical and export sectors.

Top bosses of the Ministry of Labour, Manpower and Overseas Pakistanis, including Minister Ghulam Sarwar Khan, would highlight the plans, efforts and achievements of the Ministry and its departments, the official added. A number of technical sessions will be also held during the moot in which Minister for Privatisation and Investment Zahid Hamid, Chairman National Vocational and Technical Education Commission Altaf Saleem and other senior officials would participate.

"The four provinces and interested parties have also been asked to announce incentives and bring projects to the conference, which could be of interest to expatriates", he said.


Copyright Associated Press of Pakistan, 2007

Investment conference opens today



ISLAMABAD, March 4: Over 200 Pakistani expatriates from 35 countries will attend a two-day Overseas Pakistanis Investment Conference which opens here today.

An official said a proposal to establish special industrial zones for them in various areas of the country will be discussed during the conference.

He said the Overseas Pakistanis attending the conference will also be invited to take part in the ongoing privatisation process, and added that maximum facilities will be provided to all intending investors.

He said Overseas Pakistanis living in different parts of the world, including the UK, US, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East, are keen to invest in Pakistan due to the favourable policies of the government.

He said the government had asked expatriates to inform it about their projects of interest, area of expertise, and volume of potential investment. He said so far investment offers of around $3,000 million had been received from Overseas Pakistanis.

He said a plan was being finalised to increase the volume of Overseas Pakistanis’ remittances up to $10 billion from the existing $4.5 billion per annum.

Remittances from Overseas Pakistanis will increase to over $5 billion in the current fiscal year against $4.62 billion last year. Last year the remittances were $4.62 billion, almost a quarter of last year’s exports of $16 billion. In the year 1999-2000, the remittances were less than $1 billion.

About 7.5 million Overseas Pakistanis live in the United States, Canada, Europe, the Middle East and the Far East and in the first six months of the fiscal year they sent $2.6 billion as foreign remittances.


http://www.dawn.com/2007/03/05/nat3.htm

indians living abroad are in a large way responsible for indian economic boom in the 90's.


PAKISTANI EXPATRIATES MUST DO THE SAME.


-Pakistani government in collaboration with overseas Pakistanis should increase our exports to american , uk and european union.

-overseas Pakistani should import from Pakistan and sell the Pakistani products in foreign markets.

- the overseas Pakistani should deposit their earnings and open their bank accounts in the branches of Pakistani banks abroad.

This will speedily increase Pakistani exports