Renault has accepted Pakistan’s invitation and announced to start assembling cars in Pakistan by 2018, confirmed Board of Investment (BoI).
Last month, Ishaq Dar met the representatives of Renault to resolve their queries about the new import/export policy Pakistan has devised for car manufacturers looking to expand their businesses here.
The major attraction for companies such as Renault is the new policy which allows these investors to import tax free manufacturing plant equipment and pay less taxes on import of parts when assembly starts plus various other incentives that can help new entrants in the automotive industry to set up their operations in Pakistan.
After approval from the Prime Minister automotive policy, Ishaq Dar, along with Special Assistant to the PM and Chairman of the Board of Investment (BoI) Miftah Ismail, met the following companies’ representatives:
“We want greater competition, and we expect with greater competition consumers will be offered better choices,” Ismail said.
Thus far, only Renault has agreed to join the revolution in Pakistan. Rest of the companies are said to give their answers soon, too.
Nissan chief spokesman Jonathan Adashek had said:
“Pakistan is certainly a market of interest for us at present”, but added that no final decision had been made at the time.
New measures for expansion, investment and consumer protection in auto sector of Pakistan were proposed by Economic Coordination Committee after reviewing the Auto Policy, headed by the finance minister.
Several meetings were held between all the stakeholders. These meetings helped in devising a new policy package to attract greenfield investment as well as to revive existing closed auto units in Pakistan.
An auto and football enthusiast, you can contact Syed Zarar at syed.zarar@propakistani.pk. For more discussions, contact him on Facebook (fb.com/TacticallyInept). He tweets at: @TacticallyInept.
