Lahore, Pakistan: With the aim to explore the country of Pakistan as a potential investment market, the Italy-Pakistan Business Forum was held from 19th -21st May in Lahore and Islamabad within the framework of the “Joint UNIDO-SMEDA-Italy Programme to establish an Investment Promotion Unit (IPU) in Lahore”

Hereby UNIDO invited and coordinated the official visit of a delegation of Italian companies that participated at the Forum. These companies had herewith the chance to hold a series of meetings with key Pakistani institution as the BOI (Board of Investment), PBIT (Punjab Board of Investment and Trade), and local entrepreneurs, as well as to visit major factories and production sites. The topics discussed throughout the Forum were mainly related to specific economic sectors like the renewable energy, building, engineering  and ICT for textile and garments sector.

PBIT Director Projects, Dr. Suhail Saleem welcomed the members of the Italian trade delegation.  SMEDA acting Chief Executive Officer, Mr. Alamgir Chaudhry made the keynote speech at the forum organized at SMEDA HQs and  highlighted UNIDO’s role in bringing together IPU with Italian investors. He also thanked the Italian government for allocating funds to promote bilateral trade and joint ventures between business communities of Pakistan and Italy.

Furthermore the delegation had the opportunity to meet the Secretary of BoI, Mr. Imran Afzal Cheema, who provided an overview of the investment potential sectors in Pakistan and assured his cooperation in facilitating the investment set up in the country. In addition, the Italian delegates met UNIDO’s Representative in Pakistan Mr. Esam Alqararah, who briefed the participants about UNIDO’s operations in Pakistan as well as the different ongoing projects in the country.

The 3 days forum concluded with a working meeting organized by the Italian Embassy in Islamabad, where more than 25 companies operating in Pakistan participated. As conclusion,  H.E. the Ambassador of Italy,  Mr. Adriano Chiodi Cianfarani pledged UNIDO for facilitating empowerment of commercial relations in order to provide market access and a better knowledge of business opportunities between Italian and Pakistani SMEs.