United States is committed to supporting Pakistan’s young entrepreneurs: Consul General

Islamabad, November 17, 2013 (PPI-OT): At the Pak100 Awards and Massachusetts Institute of Technology Enterprise Forum Pakistan (MITEF) Summit today, United States Consul General in Lahore Nina Fite remarked that “the United States is committed to supporting Pakistan’s young entrepreneurs, whose innovative thinking has the potential to unlock great economic prosperity.”

The AllWorld Network Pakistan 100, comprised of Pakistan’s 100 fastest growing private companies, co-hosted the event with MITEF Pakistan. Ken Morse, self-made entrepreneur and founder of the MIT Entrepreneurship Center, and Jason Pontin, editor of MIT Technology Review and Chairman of the MIT Enterprise Forum, traveled from the United States to attend the event.

In her remarks to 250 Pakistani entrepreneurs and business leaders to officially launch Global Entrepreneurship Week, Consul General Fite underscored the importance that the United States places on its economic relationship with Pakistan and said, “The United States believes that fast-growing businesses are the key to Pakistan’s economic future.

We also believe that increased trade and investment are an important element to the future of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, and as such we are working hard to strengthen our economic relationship.”

Consul General Fite described partnerships between Pakistani and U.S. universities and programs such as StartUp Cup, a U.S.-funded competition that promotes entrepreneurial ideas. Over the past several weeks, nearly 200 start-up businesses have participated in a series of successful Build-A-Business workshops in Islamabad, Lahore, and Karachi. The winner of the Pakistan StartUp Cup will be named during the closing ceremony in early December.

The United States Government, through the U.S. Agency for International Development, supports business leaders by providing them training and access to technology and financing. The United States’ recently launched Pakistan Private Investment Initiative will help entrepreneurs and businesses access the equity finance they need to flourish.

For more information about U.S. support for entrepreneurship in Pakistan, please see: http://photos.state.gov/libraries/pakistan/676673/Urdu%20PDF/Entrepreneurship%20_English_.pdf

For more information, contact:
Alberto Rodriguez
Spokesman
Information Office Public Affairs Section
Embassy of the United States of America
U.S. Embassy, Islamabad- Pakistan
Cell: +92300 501 2640
Tel: +9251-208 0000
Fax: +9251-227 8607
E-mail: webmasterisb@state.gov