{"id":1149894,"date":"2026-01-22T13:01:07","date_gmt":"2026-01-22T08:01:07","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.app.com.pk\/?p=1149894"},"modified":"2026-01-22T13:01:07","modified_gmt":"2026-01-22T08:01:07","slug":"sifc-operates-as-one-window-facility-follows-cabinet-approval-process-na-told","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/2026\/01\/22\/sifc-operates-as-one-window-facility-follows-cabinet-approval-process-na-told\/","title":{"rendered":"SIFC operates as one-window facility, follows Cabinet approval process, NA told"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>ISLAMABAD, Jan 22 (APP):The government on Thursday defended the role and functioning of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), telling the National Assembly that the body operates as a one-window platform for investors, follows constitutional and legal procedures, and has put in place safeguards to prevent any conflict of interest while facilitating millions of dollars in investment.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Tariq Fazal Chaudhry, responding to a question in the House, said the SIFC had established clear mechanisms to ensure transparency and to avoid any overlap of interests.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He added that institutional checks were in place to maintain credibility and accountability in the council\u2019s operations.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He informed the House that investments worth millions of dollars had already been brought into the country through the SIFC across various sectors and were being channelled through a structured framework aimed at supporting economic growth and strengthening investor confidence.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>However, he said that providing a sector-wise breakdown and details of the financial benefits involved technical aspects and would require a fresh question under parliamentary rules.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He assured members that complete information could be shared through the appropriate parliamentary forum.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Separately, Minister of State for Finance and Revenue Bilal Azhar Kayani told the House that the SIFC was functioning as a one-window facility to facilitate both local and foreign investors, streamline approvals and improve coordination among economic ministries, regulators and the business community.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Responding to a question raised by Sherry Rehman, he said the council played a key role not only in investment facilitation but also in aligning the work of economic ministries to ensure faster and more coherent decision-making.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He added that the SIFC maintained close engagement with the business community, including chambers of commerce, the Pakistan Business Council and the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA), and that a meeting with business representatives had been held only last week to discuss investment facilitation and operational issues.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>The minister said the SIFC provided a single-window interface to help investors navigate regulatory processes and coordinate with relevant ministries and provincial governments, but clarified that the council did not bypass constitutional or legal procedures.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He explained that while the SIFC had its own apex committee comprising the prime minister, chief ministers and other senior stakeholders, all major government decisions followed the prescribed institutional mechanism.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>\u201cAny significant economic decision is processed through the relevant ministry, placed before the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) where required, and finally approved and ratified by the federal cabinet,\u201d he said.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Kayani said the SIFC had organised itself on a sector-wise basis to improve efficiency, including a dedicated component for agriculture, which worked closely with the Ministry of National Food Security and provincial governments, as agriculture was a devolved subject.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Responding to a supplementary question on Reko Diq, he said the SIFC was playing a facilitation role in the project, while the Ministry of Petroleum was the lead agency.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>He added that the Ministry of Railways was also involved, particularly in matters related to ML-I and ML-III connectivity.<\/div>\n<div><\/div>\n<div>Both ministers maintained that the SIFC was working in a coordinated and facilitative manner to remove bottlenecks, ensure transparency and support economic growth, while fully adhering to constitutional requirements and established rules of business.<\/div>\n<div style=\"margin-top: 0px; margin-bottom: 0px;\" class=\"sharethis-inline-share-buttons\" ><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>ISLAMABAD, Jan 22 (APP):The government on Thursday defended the role and functioning of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), telling the National Assembly that the body operates as a one-window platform for investors, follows constitutional and legal procedures, and has put in place safeguards to prevent any conflict of interest while facilitating millions of dollars&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":1149895,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"pmpro_default_level":"","_speechable_audio":"","_speechable_word_timings":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[5163,76,5164],"post_template":[],"top_category":[],"class_list":["post-1149894","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-national","tag-one-window-facility","tag-sifc","tag-special-investment-facilitation-council-sifc","pmpro-has-access"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149894","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1149894"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1149894\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1149895"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1149894"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1149894"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1149894"},{"taxonomy":"post_template","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/post_template?post=1149894"},{"taxonomy":"top_category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/demo.app.com.pk\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/top_category?post=1149894"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}