BOI launches E-Portals for facilitating local, foreign investors

Jun 25, 2020: The Board of Investment (BOI) has launched three online portals including,Electronic Joint Venture, Branch, Liaison office Management Information System and Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Information Portal to digitize all services for the benefit of investors.

Chairman Board of Investment (BOI), Atif Riaz Bokhari, launched these three online portals, in an online event which was attended by the Secretary BOI, Omer Rasul senior officers and other stakeholders including the World Bank, Department for International Development (DFID), Pakistan Business Council (PBC), Federal Board of Revenue (FBR), National Technology Council (NTC) and Punjab Information technology Board (PITB),said a press release issued here on Thursday.

In his remarks, Atif Bokhari appreciated the efforts of BOI team, spearheaded by the Secretary,BOI Omer Rasul for the drive to digitize all services for the benefit of investors.

He highlighted that BOI was one of the leading organizations in the federal government, which had been effectively introducing technology-driven innovative solutions in terms of service delivery, with the ultimate objectives of bringing transparency, improving Ease of Doing Business and facilitating, Foreign Direct Investment in Pakistan.

The chairman also acknowledged the role of all stakeholders for providing support to BOI in developing the online modules.

In his inaugural statement, Secretary BOI, Omer Rasul, explained the objectives of the launch of new portals, which would help reduce human interaction and facilitate investors in accessing the services from the board.

He added that, following the policy of Federal Government, BOI not only aimed to facilitate the investors through digitization of services but also by reducing the timelines for seeking necessary approvals.

He said the three modules were officially launched by the Chairman Board of Investment.

The chairman BOI said that electronic Joint Venture (EJV) was Pakistan's first public sector online free Business Match-Making Service, which allowed the businesses to create partnerships worldwide.

It allows the enterprises to enlist their profiles on the website and provide useful information regarding new opportunities for investment, he said.

He said that EJV facilitated companies looking for projects and Joint Venture Partners.

The platform gives an opportunity for Business to Business (B2B) as well as Business to Government (B2G) collaboration, Bokhari added.

While Secretary BOI, Omer Rasul said Branch/Liaison Management Information System (BLMIS) was an online application for opening of Branch offices and Liaison offices in Pakistan.

This is a continuation of BOI’s success story of Online Work Visa module which had enabled the companies to apply for work visa online including payment of fee and grant of final Visa document, he added.

BLMIS is a major milestone to provide world class facilitation to the Investors.

He said that Special Economic Zones Information Portal would help BOI to collect information from the Enterprises and Developers based in the Special Economic Zones.

The empirical data would also demonstrate the pace of development work at SEZs, bringing transparency and one window services to the Enterprises and Developers, he added.

APP