Welcoming the tripling of financial assistance by USA for Pakistan up to 7.5 billion dollars, as announced by Ms. Hillary Clinton during her visit to Pakistan, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) has urged upon the USA to encourage its private sector to make enhanced investment in Pakistan, especially in energy sector.

Zahid Maqbool, President, ICCI said that more than 200 international companies are doing successful business in Pakistan and earning good returns, but unfortunately not a single exploration & production (E&P) company of USA has any presence in Pakistan’s oil & gas sector. He said the better way for USA to help Pakistan is to encourage its private sector to invest in different sectors of Pakistan’s economy.

For this purpose, Hillary Clinton, US Secretary of State should sell the idea of investing in Pakistan to Americans because $ 7.5 billion aid to Pakistan over the next five years will not be enough to solve the country’s mounting problems related to health, education, energy and water, he said.

Zahid Maqbool said oil & gas sector of the country offers huge potential for investment as due to lack of resources, only 825 wells have been drill so far in Pakistan. He said entry of US E&P companies in Pakistan’s oil & gas sector will send very positive signals to other foreign investors and will enable country to exploit these huge untapped natural resources for the benefit of its people and economy at large.

He said that ever since becoming the frontline state against war on terror, Pakistan has suffered an overall economic loss of Rs.2.082 trillion while thousands of people have lost their jobs due to closing down of industry and businesses in war affected areas.

He said instead of stressing on war against militancy, which has strained the economies of all fighting countries, USA should make Pakistan a hub of business activities by making maximum investment in our country. This would be the far better approach to eliminate militancy and cope with terrorism as it would create new job opportunities for unemployed people and give them new hope of better life.

He said Hillary Clinton should make it her mission to persuade American businesses to view Pakistan not as a haven for Al Qaeda but a vast untapped market capable of delivering double-digit rates of return.