Zubair Gilani, Chairman, Board of Investment said that government was working to ease existing business regulatory laws for better investment promotion. He said that loopholes in business laws and regulations would be plugged that would facilitate the growth of business and investment in the country. He was addressing business community during his visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry. Qasim Raza, Additional Secretary, BoI was also present at the occasion. Zubair Gilani said that 21 SEZs have been planned and government was interested to promote JVs in these Zones. He said that government was determined to address the key issues of industrial sector in order to promote industrialization. He said that government was working to enable the country to stand on its own feet instead of depending on foreign aid and stressed that private sector should cooperate in reviving the concept of Made in Pakistan. He said that value addition of products was vital to improve competitiveness of exports in international market and stressed that private sector should focus on value addition. He said that ICCI should bring major hurdles in the way of investment to the notice of BoI and give its proposals for investment promotion that would be given due consideration. Speaking at the occasion, Muhammad Ahmed Waheed, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) said that government should provide same incentives to existing industrial zones that were meant for SEZs under CPEC. He said that a Special Economic Zone would be established in Islamabad under CPEC and emphasized that ICCI should be taken on board for execution of this project so that local investors could get better opportunities of JVs and investment in ICT SEZ. He said that initially 9 SEZs would be setup in Pakistan in the industrial cooperation phase of CPEC and stressed that government should provide level playing field to local and foreign investors in these SEZs that would facilitate better growth of local industry. He said that foreign trade delegations during visit to Pakistan often visit ICCI and urged that Board of Investment should share investor guides and information brochure with Chamber on regular basis so that visiting foreign investors could be thoroughly briefed about all potential investment opportunities in various sectors of Pakistan’s economy. He said that government should formulate more conducive policies for promoting public-private partnerships in investment projects. Tahir Abbasi, Senior Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry thanked Chairman BoI for visiting ICCI and said that effective measures should be taken to address the highlighted issues in the way of investment. He also hoped that BoI would give due consideration to the proposals given by the business community for growth of investment in the country. Zubair Ahmed Malik, Mian Akram Farid, Tariq Sadiq, Mian Shaukat Masud, Muhammad Ejaz Abbasi, Zafar Bakhtawari, Zahid Maqbool, Naeem Siddiqui and others also spoke at the occasion and gave useful proposals for investment promotion.