Manama: Mahmood Rafique, Editor: A memorandum of understanding (MoU) between the Board of Investment (BOI) of Pakistan and the Economic Development Board (EDB), Kingdom of Bahrain will be signed during the 2nd session of Pak-Bahrain Joint Ministerial Commission (JMC) for cooperation between the two economic promotion agencies.
The Kingdom of Bahrain is hosting the 2nd session of two-day Pakistan-Bahrain JMC scheduled to take place on July 28th, 2021, in Manama, in which Dr Abdul Latif Bin Rashid Al Zayani, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bahrain will host Pakistan’s Foreign Minister, Shah Mahmood Qureshi and his accompanying delegation.
The MoU will provide a framework on which both countries can develop and undertake collaborative activities and projects; share knowledge and have integrated technical exchange and assistance in areas of mutual interest.
The BOI, Pakistan’s leading investment promotion agency, is working under the administrative control of the Prime Minister’s Office and has been mandated to promote and facilitate both local and foreign investment and has initiated the MoU.
In addition to Pakistan FM, the delegation will include several high officials from the BOI, the Petroleum Division, the Ministry of Commerce, the Ministry of Economic Affairs, and the Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development.
The meeting will focus on bilateral cooperation in various sectors including finance and banking, economic, commerce, industry, political, defence, public health, overseas employment, higher education, science and technology, information, culture and arts, agriculture and livestock, cultural cooperation, and parliamentary exchanges.
The key sectors of interest include manufacturing, financial services, tourism, healthcare and education, logistics, information and communication technology, and vocational training.
During the first session, there was a consensus that volume of bilateral trade is much below the potential of both countries and future prospects in this regard were discussed.
The Pakistani side also proposed to offer Special Economic Zones in Pakistan for investors of Bahrain, which was well received by the Bahraini side. The volume of bilateral trade between the two countries stood a little over $117 million in the last fiscal year.
Pakistan’s exports to Bahrain include rice, cotton yarn, textured yarn, printing ink etc. Whereas, major imports from Bahrain include ferrous waste and scrap, iron or steel and petroleum bitumen. This meeting will be a major breakthrough in terms of showcasing Pakistan’s lucrative investment opportunities to Bahrain.
Pakistan has adopted a very liberal and investor-friendly investment policy, which provides no restriction on remitting capital. All sectors are open for investment and equal treatment is given to local and foreign investors.
