Pakistan, Malaysia set to sign around $1 bn investment deals — BoI chief

KARACHI: Pakistani and Malaysian companies will sign three investment agreements worth around $1 billion during the upcoming visit of Malaysian Prime Minister Dr. Mahathir bin Mohammad, Haroon Sharif, Minister of State and Chairman Board of Investment (BoI), Pakistan, told Arab News on Wednesday. 
The Malaysian premier is due in Islamabad tomorrow and will attend the Pakistan Day parade as guest of honor, officials confirmed.
“The Malaysian PM will be accompanied by 10 to 15 serious representatives and CEOs of companies on March 22 and 23. Three MoUs in private sector will be signed. MoU for vehicle manufacturing, establishment of processing unit of halal meat for export to Malaysia and one in telecom sector for expanding mobile phone outreach,” said Sharif. 
“No exact amount could be determined at this stage but it could be around $1 billion, because the private sector investment are not as big as the public sector where investment for infrastructure is involved,” BoI chief said, adding that “More than the investment amount, my excitement is about the transfer of technology and the partnerships that are taking place.” 
During the visit of Malaysian Prime Minister who is coming on the invitation of his Pakistani counterpart Prime Minister Imran Khan, businessmen of both sides will also hold Business Forum on March 22.
Among the prominent business group that is coming to Pakistan is edotco Group, which is the first and leading regional integrated telecommunications infrastructure services company in Asia. The group is specialized in end-to-end solutions in the tower services sector including co-locations, build-to-suit, energy, transmission and operations and maintenance.
Headquartered in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia, Edotco’s regional portfolio includes over 29,300 towers supported by state-of-the-art real time monitoring service to improve field operations whilst maximizing operational efficiencies.
The arrival of Malaysian companies at a time when a general impression in Pakistan prevails that only China is making investment in Pakistan is termed of a major shift.
Recently, Pakistan and Saudi Arabia also signed investment deals worth $21 billion during the visit of Saudi Crown prince Muhammad Bin Salman. Saudi mega investment also includes establishment of oil refinery in the deep seawater port of Gwadar. 
“Pakistan is opening up for the world as now multiple countries are taking interest. Other Asian countries are coming to Pakistan,” Sharif noted.
ASEAN is the second richest market after China in the region. Pakistan hopes to enter this market through Malaysia. “I am keen that with the development with Malaysia because they are far better than us in terms of technology. They can help us improve our productivity and also give us market access to the ASEAN countries,” the BoI chief noted.
Sharif added that “If we make partnership with Malaysia that exports to the ASEAN countries then we’ll be able to reach out to ASEAN value chain.”
Agreements between Pakistan and Malaysia will be made under the government’s patronage as a “perfect model where government is a facilitator and private sector is making deals and that is exactly what in future should be,” he added.