American and Pakistani business tycoons to explore investment opportunities

Business Opportunities Conference is all set to be held in New York this June, where American and Pakistani business tycoons will identify areas for investment and collaboration in both countries. The conference in its fourth edition this year, will invite business community of US and Pakistan to pursue joint ventures for investment in various areas of trade. This year’s focus will be towards agriculture, pharmaceutical and surgical and most importantly, information technology.

The Pakistani delegation will be lead by Minister of Commerce, Engr Khurum Dastagir. Key officials of the ministry will also accompany the delegation. The Ministry has received over 300 registrations of Pakistani businessmen, however the final list is subject to US visa approvals.

According to the financial year 2014-15 statistics, the trade volume between the two countries amount to over $5 billion. Government officials will also meet the US representatives to gain insight about Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) and how it can help Pakistani entrepreneurs to explore opportunities in sectors present in the US GSP list. Under the GSP facility, Pakistan has yet to produce fruitful results that can potentially increase exports. The tariff concessions under GSP are only available in sectors of agriculture, jewelry and handicraft. US has always refused to provide the concession for Pakistani textile sector. Moreover, US companies are readily investing in energy and food processing sector in Pakistan.

Furthermore, US is still very sensitive to violations of intellectual property rights at the hands of Pakistani. After Pakistan has shown concern to intellectual property breaches, Pakistan has been excluded from the priority watch list. However, to fully redeem the honor, Pakistan has to put in rigorous efforts to minimize intellectual property breaches.

Source — PakObserver