Japanese Envoy sees greater investor interest in Pakistan
Pakistan Times Business & Commerce Desk

ISLAMABAD: Japanese Ambassador to Pakistan Nobuaki Tanaka has said that the present conducive atmosphere in Pakistan would attract Japanese investors.

Time is ripe for his country’s investors to avail of the opportunities available in Pakistan, he said. Tanaka said Japan was one of the few countries that started to invest in Pakistan just after world war II.

“In fact our automobile and textile industry have been deeply rooted in the country”, he added.

The Indo-Pak tension and the nuclear tests in the region were the factors that had discouraged Japanese investors, but the climate had now undergone a welcome change, he said by adding; Pakistan’s economy has gained momentum and “our industrialists are looking forward to exploring the opportunities here”.

It would be more realistic for Japanese investors to find business opportunities in conjunction with yen loans, which Japan restored during the weekend visit of Japanese Prime Minister Junichiro Koizumi to Pakistan.

The diplomat said the yen loans would bring a lot of Japanese businessmen here to find projects involving direct investment.

Japanese automobile and other industry already present in Pakistan is being expanded due to domestic demand. To a question he said textile export from Pakistan to Japan had been affected amid international competition.

Now that Pakistani industry has begun to acquire a lot of advanced machinery to improve the quality of its products the country would be able to compete better and Japan would be ready to help, he set.●