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WASHINGTON:
Trade links between Pakistan and the United States are
expected to receive a boost, according to the US-Pakistan
Business Council which was set up in September 2002.
Members
of the new body met last week in Torrance, California,
at a dinner hosted by two leading Pakistani-American entrepreneurs,
Pervaiz Lodhie and Najeeb Ghauri. The Council describes
itself as the leading private sector association of American
companies which have business interests in Pakistan. Three
charter members – The Coca-Cola Company, PepsiCo,
and Sweetwater International - spearheaded its formation. “Both
Coca Cola and PepsiCo have been active members of the US
Chamber of Commerce for years, and Sweetwater International
is truly a success story of positive American commercial
involvement in Pakistan,” according to Ms Esperanza
Gomez, executive director, USPBC, who flew from Washington
to attend the interactive dinner. Dr. Herbert Davis, vice
president for South Asia, Middle East and Africa Affairs
at the US Chamber of Commerce, also came to the meeting
and was the keynote speaker, according to a report in the
Los Angeles-based publication, Pakistan Link.
In
his keynote address, Dr Herbert Davis said, “Pakistan
is a country rich in history, culture, and human resources.
Today it is also an emerging market rich with exciting
opportunities for US foreign direct investment. Pakistan
has an ideal geographic location with immediate access
to the Central Asian Republics and has a competitively
affordable and expanding workforce of over 40 million,
many of whom are well versed in the English language. Since
1999, Pakistan has achieved significant macro-economic
successes as recognised by the multilateral lending institutions,
in particular, the World Bank. Pakistan’s foreign
investment policy is among the most open and liberal in
South Asia.
All
of this is good news for American companies interested
in doing business in Pakistan. Pakistan is in the position
of providing the essential linkages between the economies
of China and the Middle East. ” Dr Davis said he was
proud of his quarter century long association with Pakistan,
adding, “Pakistan has played an important role in
my life.”
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