The President told a select gathering at the ground-breaking ceremony of Rs 11 billion twin-tower building Karachi Financial Tower (KFT), being built by Enshaa NLC, a joint venture between UAE Enshaa Holding Ltd and National Logistic Cell (NLC) at the Governor House.
The President said investment was the cornerstone of economic growth in Pakistan and it has grown in four digits. He was of the opinion that investment will keep coming with the continuation of existing government policies of deregulation, liberalisation and privatisation of the economy.
"We have created an investment-friendly environment in Pakistan. We have changed our rules and regulations to suit the investors coming to Pakistan. We have created more comfort so that he (investor) feels confident that Pakistan is a venue for investment to earn money," the President added.
He said the investors will have a maximum profitability with the economic upsurge in Pakistan which raised the growth and doubled the per capita income of its people. Pakistan is now categorised as a middle-income country, he added.
President Musharraf noted that profitability increases due to increase in the purchasing power and also due to a supply and demand gap.
He pointed out that Pakistan with a big market of 160 million people is the hub of this entire region of South Asia and Central Asia. Therefore, Pakistan should be seen as hub and not as a standalone country, he added.
He said the government was trying to project Pakistan in its correct perspective. He said the tremendous amount of interest is shown internationally and there is a tremendous amount of influx of investors in Pakistan. Musharraf said hotel occupancy in Pakistan was more than 90 percent and most of them are foreign investors.
He expressed his pleasure over maturing of Pakistan's policies and producing results to attract investors and sustain the economic growth in Pakistan and then in turn benefiting the people of Pakistan.
He pointed out that building and construction activity was being specially emphasised in Pakistan in our planning because this is labour intensive activity. It generates economic activity as well as maximum number of jobs for skilled and unskilled labour, he added. This industry encourages 50 down-stream industries and therefore the government was facilitating this sector to the maximum.
President Musharraf noted that tremendous amount of construction activity was going on in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad where five 5-star hotels would be coming up in the forthcoming years alone. He said the Railways department was launching 55 hotels of 3-4 stars dimension all over Pakistan. He invited the investors to come to Pakistan and said there will be a win-win situation for both investors as well as Pakistan.
He said the government was encouraging skill development through triangular synergy between the industry, universities and technical institutions. Sindh Governor Dr Ishrat-ul-Ibad Khan, Chief Minister Dr Arbab Ghulam Rahim, Federal Ministers Sheikh Rashid Ahmed and Babar Khan Ghauri were also present on the occasion.