PAL-C Hosts Pakistan’s Leading Industrialists in Advocating for ROZ Legislation

ROZ legislation backed by Pakistan’s leading industrialists; Congress assured of private sector participation in ROZ areas; Meetings reinforce urgency and need for long-term commitment

WASHINGTON D.C., October 10, 2007 – Following the success of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) delegation’s visit to Washington D.C. hosted by the Pakistani American Leadership Center (PAL-C), PAL-C was once again asked to facilitate and host a delegation of Pakistan’s leading industrialists in cooperation with Minister of Trade at the Embassy of Pakistan, Azmat Ali Ranjha.

Acting under severe time constraints, PAL-C managed to use its considerable influence with Members of Congress (particularly those on the Pakistan Caucus with whom PAL-C maintains close relationships) to arrange meetings between the two parties and also facilitated meetings with other federal agencies and think tanks.  The delegation was headed by the Secretary of Pakistan’s Trade Development Authority Naved Arif and included Ghazanfar Bilour of SCCI (NWFP), Ihsanullah Khan of FATA-DA (FATA), Brigadier Razzak Baloch of QCCI (Baluchistan), Ms. Neelofar of ICCI (NWFP), Majyd Aziz: former president of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Farrukh Sheikh of PTA (Karachi), and Jamshid Khan: Joint Secretary – Ministry of Commerce.

Meetings were held with U.S. State Department, U.S. Department of Commerce, and the Overseas Private Investment Corporation (OPIC) officials representing the U.S public sector as well as with the AFL-CIO, the U.S. Chamber of Commerce and the U.S.-Pakistan Business Council  (USPBC), representing the private sector, especially those with business interests in Pakistan, and potentially in the affected ROZ areas. The delegation also met with Pakistani American   businessmen, political activists, young professionals, aspiring entrepreneurs and corporate representatives on October 2nd at a dinner graciously hosted in honor of the delegation at PAL-C National Director Dr.Maqsood Chaudhry's house.

Most importantly however, were the delegation’s meetings on October 2nd and 3rd with Members of Congress and their staff and which PAL-C played an instrumental role in facilitating. The delegation met with Members (or their staff): Representative Gregory Meeks (D-NY), Senator Evan Bayh (D-IN), Representative Sheila Jackson Lee (D-TX), Representative Adam Smith (D-WA), Representative John Sarbanes (D-MD), the staff of the U.S. House of Representatives - Trade Subcommittee, Senator Maria Cantwell (D-WA), Representative Bill Pascrell (D-NJ), Representative Dan Burton (R-IN), Representative Chris Van Hollen (D-MD), staff of the U.S. Senate Trade Subcommittee, and Representative Robert Wexler (D-FL).

The purpose of the visit was to emphasize the importance of the Administration’s Reconstruction Opportunity Zone Counterterrorism Initiative both in terms of

• Producing a viable incentive through the elimination of tariffs and trade barriers for a specified positive list of products being exported from the ROZs, and

• The importance of the Counterterrorism Initiative in enhancing job creation in the affected areas, thereby reducing the opportunity for militant activity to take root and spread.

The reception of the delegation by Members of Congress was overwhelmingly positive, especially as the delegation was able to address and provide very specific, experience-based answers to some remaining concerns raised by Members including:

• The security situation in the ROZ areas: Members of the delegation are currently engaged in many, if not all of the ROZ areas, including Baluchistan and the NWFP and were able to provide detailed first-hand evidence of the stable security situation in those areas for private industry. One member of the delegation noted for example, that because the people employed in these areas recognize that industry provides economic livelihood and stability the workers themselves are ready to take up arms to defend the plants from any kind of militant activity directed towards them. Further, there was a direct correlation between an increase in industrial activity and a decrease in militant activity. Those provinces that did not have any industrial capability saw the largest number of conflicts.

• Women empowerment: One of the female members of the delegation noted that the creation of the ROZs would empower women in the affected areas by creating employment for them as well. She noted that currently, in certain pharmaceutical plants already in the ROZ areas, the labor force is made up entirely of women.

• Longevity requirement: The members of the delegation noted that while the security situation is fairly stable from a business perspective, because they would be the leading edge in initiating industry in the ROZ affected areas, that uncertainty must be mitigated by a long-term commitment of at least 15 years of duty-free entry of goods on the positive list into the U.S. The delegation members also noted that this type of long-term commitment by the U.S while providing economic certainty also served the U.S. foreign-policy interest of assuring the Pakistani public that the U.S. was interested in developing a long-term relationship broad-based relationship with Pakistan and the Pakistani people instead of one based solely on U.S. security and self-interest in the War on Terror.

• Urgency: Members of the delegation made it clear to the legislators with whom they spoke of the urgent need for this legislation to be passed and implemented immediately. For the delegation members who lived and worked and had family in the affected areas including FATA the NWFP, and Baluchistan the War on Terror and its associated casualties were not abstract news clips but a very real part their daily existence. One member put it succinctly, “Our children are dying and your children are dying. We need this legislation to save our children and give these people hope.”

Overall, Members of both the House and the Senate were very receptive to the delegation and the proposed ROZ legislation. This is in large part due to the merit of the legislation in that it provides a confluence of interests for both countries  - Pakistan and the U.S. Both serve to benefit from the deal creating a unique win-win situation which both countries are keen to take advantage of; Pakistan on the economic development side and the U.S. on the resulting improved security situation in the ROZ areas and in the wider surrounding region.

Although the delegation has now returned to Pakistan, the impact they left on their U.S. counterparts and the U.S. legislators is one that will last and hopefully see through the passage of the ROZ legislation. And for PAL-C, a lasting bond has been a created with the members of the delegation, a relationship PAL-C hopes to nurture as the relationship between not just Pakistan and the U.S. broadens and strengthens but as the relationship between the peoples of these two great nations is grows and blossoms.

The Pakistani American Leadership Center (PAL-C) is the only professional Pakistani-American advocacy organization that has an office located on Capitol Hill. It launched the Congressional Pakistan Caucus in May 2004 and works to raise awareness about Pakistani-American interests in Washington policy circles. Our activities include facilitating the Congressional Pakistan Caucus, liaisoning Pakistani officials and the community with Members of Congress, and mobilizing all Pakistani-Americans at the grassroots level. If you wish to learn more about PAL-C, please visit our website www.pal-c.org or email us at info@pal-c.org.

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