Pakistan 'not yet ready for Indian firms'

KUALA LUMPUR: Pakistan, poised for economic growth of at least 7.5 per cent this year, has removed all barriers to foreign investment but Indian companies won't be welcome until the rivals' dispute over the Kashmir region is resolved, the country's prime minister said yesterday. "The atmospherics between the two countries are getting better. But the economic relations have to move in tandem with progress on many issues including the core issue of Kashmir," Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said in an interview with international news agencies during a visit to Malaysia.



The Himalayan region of Kashmir, divided between the two countries, is claimed in its entirety by both, and is at the centre of a nearly six-decade territorial dispute between the nuclear rivals.



Aziz, a former Citibank executive hand-picked by Pakistan's leader, President Pervez Musharraf, to run the government, said the country's economy has seen a major turnaround in the last five years. He said growth in gross domestic product is expected to be 7.5pc this year.



"Pakistan is open for business. Pakistan of today and tomorrow is not the Pakistan of yesterday. The Pakistan of today and tomorrow is a Pakistan of opportunities," said Aziz.



"It is a very open economy. There are no sectors not open to foreign investments," said Aziz, who is on a tour of Southeast Asian countries to court foreign investors.



Asked if this openness extends to Indian companies as well, Aziz said: "Not yet ... we want to see progress on all issues (with India) in tandem."