Local businessmen demand level playing field

Punjab’s push to attract Austrian and other overseas investors has prompted local business owners to seek comparable access to incentives and approvals, The Express Tribune reported. In a Friday meeting, Austrian ambassador Wolfgang Oliver Kutschera urged stronger economic cooperation, while Punjab’s industries minister Chaudhry Shafay Hussain pointed to the province’s industrial zones and invited Austrian firms to explore several business areas.

Punjab offers investors in its special economic zones a 10-year income tax holiday and a one-time duty-free machinery import facility, which the government says are available to domestic and foreign firms alike. Local industrialists question whether smaller Pakistani businesses can obtain those benefits as readily as international companies. The meeting covered possible cooperation in hydropower, education, tourism, garments, leather, footwear and livestock, but no project, investment amount or timetable was announced.