News
Sunday, June 20, 2010
US encouraging private sector investment in PakistanWASHINGTON: The Obama administration is encouraging the American private sector to invest in Pakistan, with top officials devoting considerable time convincing the US entrepreneurs of profitable returns from potential opportunities, according to an article published in the Boston Globe on Saturday.
According to the Boston daily, US Ambassador to Pakistan Anne W Patterson has made it her mission to persuade American businessmen to view Pakistan not as a sanctuary for al Qaeda-linked militants, but a “vast untapped market capable of delivering double-digit rates of return”.
Just as the US State Department is gearing up to spend $7.5 billion in aid to Pakistan over the next five years, officials are already predicting that the money would not be enough to solve the country’s problems in health, education, energy, and water, according to a report by Farah Stockman. Thus, the US State Department is actively trying to sell the idea of investing in Pakistan to Americans.
“$7.5 billion is not chump change,” the US ambassador said at a dinner in Cambridge, England, which was attended by about 70 people last week.
But she stressed, “The real solution is private sector involvement”. app
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk