A delegation of Italian Development Committee Pakistan visits Punjab Board of Investment and Trade

Lahore: A high level strategic delegation, comprising of the Chairman, President, Secretary General and Executive Member of Italian Development Committee (IDC) Pakistan visited Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT).

The purpose of the visit was to discuss the investment opportunities existing in Punjab. Over the past few years IDC has successfully built an image of an investment facilitator between Italy and Pakistan as it works closely with the Italian and Pakistani authorities and help business communities of the both countries to identify, develop and build projects.

Chairman IDC Lahore chapter Masud Akhter briefed the PBIT team about the functions of IDC and the projects they are currently working on and the MOU’s they have signed particularly in education, technology, agriculture, leather and petroleum sectors of Pakistan. Furthermore he announced that Italian chamber of commerce has decided to establish an office in Pakistan in June this year which will further expand the avenues of cooperation between the two nations.

President IDC Tariq Ikram shared the details regarding some successful as well as failed investment projects they have struggled for in the preceding years. Factors which contribute to the completion and success of the projects were great untapped potential, cheap labor and abundance of raw material. He informed that a lot of efforts are underway in the education, technology and research areas. IDC is in contact with all the leading research, agriculture, technology and fashion focused educational institutions of Pakistan and Italy to encourage them collaborate in the form of introducing student exchange and joint degree programs, said the President IDC.

IDC Secretary General  Ms. Amna Gul Muqri shared the information pertaining to the number of sector focused road shows they are planning to organize and participate internationally by taking numerous Pakistani companies and institutions on board so that they can build up a strong interface with Italian potential partners.

Director General PBIT, Ms. Lubna Pathan stressed on the need to work further than just the exchange programs between the educational institutions and assured the delegation of their full support in bringing more investment projects to Pakistan. Food processing, agriculture value addition and energy were some of the areas identified by PBIT team for cooperation and it was mutually decided that projects will be shared on the said subjects with IDC.