Islamabad
14 September, 2022

A PAeC delegation comprising executives from PAeC and member companies based in Islamabad headed by Mr. Imtiaz Rastgar visited Special Technology Zone Authority (STZA) to interact with their top management with regard to knowing the scope of STZA and apprising them about the objectives of Pakistan Aerospace Council.

Mr. Aamir Saleemi, Executive Director / Member Zones; Mr. Javaid Iqbal, Chief Commercial Officer; Dr. Mohammad Ali Mohammad, Director Research & Market Intelligence; Mr. Shahid Raza and other officials welcomed the delegation.

Mr. Tanveer Ahmed presented a short brief on the objectives of PAeC and sought the support of STZA in developing conducive policies for facilitating the companies in ease of doing business.

Dr. Mohammad Ali Mohammad presented the scope of STZA, achievements made so far and incentives being offered to the public and private companies. STZA is an autonomous body of the Government of Pakistan established to build the scientific and technological ecosystem through the development of zones and acceleration of technology development in the country.  It is an Architect and Regulator of Technology Ecosystem mandated by Act of Parliament with Prime Minister as President BoG.  He apprised that the strategic objectives of STZA include;

• Job Creation
• Technology Exports & Imports Substitution
• Transfer of Technology
• Human Capital Development
• Innovation & Entrepreneurship
• Research & Development

He also apprised that a zone may have a minimum of 5 acres of land and may be new, existing or expansion of an existing STZ.  STZA’s national rollout framework includes multiple engagement models that foster the local technology environment;

• Development of Zones on public / private land
• Notification of existing public / private infrastructure
• Notification of Zone Clusters across Pakistan

He revealed that licenses were being granted to Zone Enterprises (ZE) i.e. entities licensed to operate inside the STZs for fostering innovation and contributing to the knowledge economy of Pakistan and Zone Developers (ZD) i.e. entities licensed for developing, operating and managing infrastructure inside a Special Technology Zone to host Zone Enterprises and support services. Three types of incentives are offered to ZEs and ZDs;

Fiscal

• Exemption from Property Tax.
• Exemption from all taxes under the Income Tax Ordinance, 2001.
• Exemption from Federal Sales Tax under the Sales Tax Act, 1990.
• Exemption from Tax on import of Capital Goods.

Monetary

• Eligible for Special Forex Currency Accounts
• Ease of opening and maintaining Forex Accounts
• Fully repatriable investment, profits and dividends
• All legitimate payments abroad allowed without any limitations

Ecosystem 

• Human Capital Development
• Job Creation
• Research & Development
• Accelerated Economic Growth
• Technology Friendly infrastructure

Mr. Aamir Saleemi revealed that Islamabad Technopolis had been designed to accommodate the smaller companies operating in Islamabad and space was being provided on no profit no loss basis.

Subsequently, a detailed discussion took place on how to facilitate the Tech Companies in flourishing their businesses.

The leadership of both sides told that the interaction was productive one and reiterated to continue the collaboration between PAeC and STZA on regular basis for the uplifting of Tech Industry in Pakistan.

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