ISLAMABAD: Pakistan on Friday held a briefing session for diplomatic missions in Islamabad on the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), formed in June to attract foreign investment.

SIFC is a hybrid civil-military forum aimed to fast-track decision making and promote investment from foreign nations, particularly Gulf countries.

A notification dated June 17 from then Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif’s Office said SIFC would seek investments in the energy, IT, minerals, defence and agriculture sectors from GCC countries. The body, which has the army chief and other military leaders in key roles, aims to take a “unified approach” to steer the country out of economic crisis.

“Dr Jehanzeb Khan, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Government Effectiveness, made a detailed presentation informing the diplomatic corps on the establishment and various aspects of the Council,” the foreign office said in a statement.

“He particularly highlighted investment opportunities in Pakistan in four key areas: IT, Agriculture, Energy and Mining. The participating diplomatic missions were requested to brief and encourage their countries to profit from the promise of Pakistan being a resource-rich country.”

Pakistan has reportedly approved 20 projects to pitch for multibillion-dollar investments from Gulf and other states under the SIFC umbrella. 

The identified projects include the Saudi Aramco Refinery, TAPI Gas Pipeline, Thar Coal Rail Connectivity, hydropower projects of 245 MW in Gilgit-Baltistan, handing over of 85,000 acres of land to a single investor, the establishment of cloud infrastructure, and telecom infrastructure deployment.