Netherlands and Punjab Board of Investment & Trade agreed on Monday to boost cooperation in the fields of agriculture, farming, livestock, food production methodologies, drip irrigation and hi-technology.
Mrs Ardi Stoios-Braken, Ambassador of Netherlands to Pakistan, visited Punjab Board of Investment & Trade and met CEO PBIT Jahanzeb Burana along with other senior officials. A broad-based discussion was held on avenues of cooperation and increasing capacity of economic cooperation between the two countries.
Matters of interest and promotion of cooperation in various sectors such as agriculture, farming, livestock, food production methodologies, drip irrigation, hi-technology and other social sectors were discussed in the meeting whereas the key sectors for developing investment and JV opportunities in Pakistan were farming, food security, irrigation technologies, dairy and livestock sector.
Burana highlighted the significance of Special Economic Zones in Punjab that provide investors with attractive incentives, state-of-the-art infrastructure and facilities that make Punjab a lucrative market for investors. The participants discussed several ways of exploiting potential of the investment in Pakistan. Specific SEZs for Agri business and establishment of Agri Business Parks were also discussed during the meeting.
While addressing the issues of broken value chain in farming and agriculture sectors, Burana said that Punjab government would welcome technical assistance of Netherlands, in the uplift of different sectors in order to benefit from their expertise and hi-tech technology in the related fields.
Mrs Ardi Stoios stated that a close liaison must be developed between the two countries for mutual benefit hence both the countries need to identify more mutually interesting projects for value addition. The promising meeting concluded with the discussion for the future plan of action to increase trade between Pakistan and Netherlands as well as the further processing of the identified sectors and the concerned projects discussed.