Doing Business in Pakistan: UK Conference strengthens trade bonds with Pakistan

Minister for Trade and Investment Lord Green

As part of the UK’s efforts to promote investment in Pakistan, UK Trade and Investment hosted a conference ‘Doing Business in Pakistan’ in London yesterday, Thursday 10 February.

Its goal was to realise the potential for increased investment opportunities into Pakistan by encouraging UK companies to consider expanding their operations there. Over 80 business representatives from the UK and Pakistan attended the event

Minister for Trade and Investment Lord Green, speaking at the event, said:

“Pakistan will be one of the world’s drivers of growth in years to come, notwithstanding some of the challenges of the present.

“For UK companies deciding on which export markets to target, it is important that they look to those markets that are experiencing growth. There are significant opportunities for partnership between UK and Pakistan firms and I would encourage businesspeople to explore these with the help of UK Trade & Investment.”

Chairman of the
Board of Investment
Saleem Mandviwalla

Pakistan’s Minister of State and Chairman of the Board of Investment Saleem Mandviwalla also spoke at the event, alongside British High Commissioner to Pakistan Adam Thomson and Pakistan High Commissioner to London Wajid Shamsul Hasan.

The UK is committed to strengthening its strategic relationship with Pakistan, including a growing trade and investment relationship. Bilateral trade is already worth more than £1 billion annually and over 100 British companies are operating successfully in Pakistan.

Major British players include Unilever, Shell, GlaxoSmithKline, Standard Chartered Bank, HSBC and Barclays. Karachi also has the largest purpose-built Toni & Guy hair salon in the world.

The Chief Executive of Hubco Power, Vince Harris, spoke at the event about doing business in Pakistan, said:

“In the constant challenging and dynamic environment of Pakistan, HUBCO over the years has consistently rewarded investors with a stream of attractive half-yearly dividends and a share price profile at or above the Karachi Stock Exchange market, which has given confidence to the shareholders to expand the business with the building of two additional power plants, taking the company to a US$2 billion total investment.”

Human Rights Commission of Pakistan urges probe into alleged honour killing

The Human Rights Commission of Pakistan (HRCP) has called upon the Punjab government to ensure an early and transparent investigation of an alleged incident of honour killing of a young woman in a village of Bahawalpur district.

The young woman, Saima, left her parents house in November and went away to Karachi with a man named Dilawar she wanted to marry as her family wanted her to marry someone else. Saima’s family had took Dilawar’s father to Karachi with them and brought Saima back to Bahawalpur three days later and assured her that she would be married to Dilawar. However, she was confined in her house for the next two months, where she died in unexplained circumstances early on January 22.

In a letter to the Punjab government, HRCP said: ”The family claims that Saima had committed suicide by consuming a poisonous substance and for obvious reasons wants that version to be accepted. No report is yet available to determine the cause of death but the doctor who had conducted the post mortem examination says that there were visible marks of torture on her body and that the cause of death could be determined only from findings of a chemical laboratory test report.

HRCP expressed concern over reports that the police were not taking interest in the investigating and one of the rich accused was being pampered by police.

“HRCP apprehends that crucial evidence in the case may be destroyed unless prompt action is taken to investigate the matter properly. We also fear for the safety of the persons who had highlighted the case. They should be afforded adequate protection and an assurance of safety given to any witnesses who may want to come forward. Justice demands that inquiry must be fair and no favour should be shown to the accused,” HRCP said.