By Sardar Muhammad Khattak

PAKISTAN is the 25th largest economy in the world. The country has a sound manufacturing base and well-developed agriculture and services sectors. Additionally, the country is abundantly blessed with numerous natural resource. Pakistan is the 6th most populated country, out of which 60% is youth. Geographically, it is an ideally located country connecting east and west. All these factors make Pakistan an ideal place for becoming one of the leading trade partners of the world.

Having all the positive essentials of an export hub, at present, the size of annual global exports from Pakistan is only around $20 billion, which is much lower than its potential for exports. This untapped potential provides the best possible opportunities to investors, across the globe, looking for maximum possible returns on their investments. Following are some of the best avenues for investment in the emerging Pakistan.

Textiles sector is the mainstay of our exports sector, which, together with cotton and yarn, accounts for more than half the total value of Pakistan’s annual exports. Pakistan is one of the few countries where complete value chain of textiles manufacturing exists. We annually produce more than 11 million bales of cotton. The cotton is domestically ginned and then spun into yarn by a robust spinning sector.

Weaving, knitting and processing sectors produce a wide variety of fabrics, which is stitched to produce world class garments. The blossoming fashion industry renders the ultimate value-addition. However, some of the subsectors are not completely integrated. Due to value chain constraints Pakistan exports more than $3.5 billion worth of cotton, yarn and woven fabric each year. These are relatively low-value added products and proper placement of value chain addition mechanism through additional investment can bring 3- to 4-fold export proceeds and a handsome return to the investors.

Similar potentials for huge value-addition exist in the other sectors. Gems & jewelry can be cited as typical example in this regard. Pakistan is blessed with premium quality of these gifts of nature. Emerald mined from Swat region is considered one of the best in the world. Pakistan is also bestowed with deposits of ruby, sapphire, topaz, aquamarine, and tourmaline etc. Careful mining of these precious and semiprecious stones through advanced equipment; artful cutting and polishing, and finally their rendering in jewelry, immensely increase the value of finished products. There is equally great scope for products diversification as is the potential for raising new sectors.

Pakistan has successfully fought and overcome to a great extent its short-term issues affecting the exports sector. Law & order situation has long been restored to normalcy. The success of Expo Pakistan event held in November 2017 at Karachi is a clear testimony to this fact. Hundreds of business delegates from the world over participated in this mega event and discussed and concluded business agreements with their Pakistani counterparts. Keeping in view the interest of investors and businessmen travelling to Pakistan, the Government has recently relaxed its business visa regime.

A great emphasis has been laid upon improving the situation of energy availability in the country. More than 10,000 MW of electricity is being added in the national grid as a result of recent initiatives. After operationalization of all the energy generating projects, there will be surplus electricity. Already the situation regarding industrial load shedding has been markedly improved. In addition to this, State Bank of Pakistan has recently made adjustments in its exchange rate regime so as to make it more attractive for the exporters.

These interventions have started yielding positive results. After registering a negative growth over the last four years, exports from Pakistan are picking up now. First six months of current financial year have seen over 11% increase in our exports and the trend is continuing. February 2018 has registered as yet the highest month-on-month increase of 16% in the dollar value of exported commodities.

Apart from the immediate measures, the government is pursuing a comprehensive plan of medium to long-term interventions aimed at realizing the true exports potential of Pakistan. In order to enhance the competiveness and strengthen the manufacturing base, a number of schemes have been launched so as to facilitate the industry in modernizing their machinery; improving their access to the utilities; enhancing the labour productivity, and to ensuring them the quality infrastructure.

Apart from schemes for the general industry at large, the government has incentivized the setting up of Special Economic Zones (SEZs), which additionally provide the benefits of subsectors integration, improved connectivity and economies of scale. In addition to already notified SEZs, the government has recently announced setting up of nine (9) more Zones along the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to better leverage the emerging opportunities in region.

The area of product diversification and branding are also being given due attention. To this end, dedicated funds have been set up which are aimed at promoting research and development. Pakistan has elaborate laws and necessary organizational setup in place for effective protection of intellectual property rights to provide conducive environment for promotion innovation.

Last but not the least, Pakistan is moving towards achieving more market diversification and improved market access. Look Africa Plan is a part of similar efforts. Pakistan has achieved some notable successes in the field of trade diplomacy in 2018. In January 2018, successful negotiations earned us the grant of unilateral concessions by Indonesia in twenty (20) tariff lines; a commendable accomplishment indeed. In February 2018, Pakistan successfully got the GSP Plus facility reviewed by the European Union Parliamentary Committee on International Trade. The committee expressed satisfaction over the progress made by Pakistan and decided in favor of continuation of facility.

All of the above substantiate that Pakistan is all poised and geared to become a regional hub of connectivity, investment and productivity. The coming days will witness the emergence of this nuclear power as a significant player on the global trade landscape. “Emerging Pakistan” is the best place for investment for all the investors specially the investors from Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.