Pakistan

Pakistan hopes to attract more than $10 billion of investment from oil-rich Arab Gulf countries this year to help develop the country's infrastructure, a senior government official said Saturday.

Investors from the UAE are considering a number of investments in Pakistan, despite escalating violence in the north-west of the country.

Pakistan's Ministry of Investment has decided to offer one million acres of farmland for long-term investment or sale to foreigners, including the Emirates Investment Group.

“We have finalised plans for the corporate farming project and we have the capabilities to meet the food requirements of the GCC countries," said Senator Waqar Ahmad Khan, Investment Minister of Pakistan. “They will be able to export 50 per cent of the crop while the 50 per cent would be sold in Pakistan,” adding that 6.65 million acres of land for agriculture is available in Pakistan.

THESE days, as we follow the struggle against the Taliban in the northwest, we can be forgiven for missing other important news. For instance, I had filed away a report on plans to lease large chunks of agricultural land in Punjab and Sindh to overseas investors in the back of my mind, planning to write about it later. When I ran a Google search on the subject, however, I realised the enormity of the scam.When I ran a Google search

Any student of history will tell you that a recurring feature of 20th century revolutions and civil wars was conflict over land ownership, driven by the resentment of the rural poor against the concentration of agricultural wealth in the hands of the elite.

Our government is planning to offer Arab investors legislative cover to protect them from changes in the government, but hardly any attention has yet been given to the need for protecting poor labourers who will be working for Arab corporate agriculture companies

In its bid to experiment with new ideas, the Pakistani government has decided to play host to overseas investors keen on acquiring farmlands to capitalise on food insecurities post-2007-08 crisis.

The Philippines has offered to become a major source of agricultural products to Saudi Arabia ahead of a planned visit by the kingdom’s agricultural minister Fahd Balghunaim, Arab News reported on Wednesday.

Emirates Investment Group is in the process of acquiring farmland in Pakistan to export more food to the Gulf region and is seeking international partners, a company executive said on Tuesday.

The issue of food security is getting higher on Riyadh’s priority list.

"Pakistan has finalised plans to offer ownership of agricultural lands to investors for farming, and is targeting investors from the UAE and other Gulf countries to help with their own food resources."