Pakistan, Afghanistan ROZs bill introduced in U.S. House

Washington, June 28 PPI: A bipartisan group of lawmakers introduced legislation in United States House of Representative on creating Reconstruction Opportunity Zones ROZs in Pakistan and Afghanistan, a move Bush Administration welcomed as supportive of efforts towards stimulating economic growth and achieving stability in the region.

A bill on facilitating preferential trade initiative was moved in U.S. Senate in March last. Representatives Chris Van Hollen, Peter Hoekstra, Sander Levin, Mark Steven Kirk, Gary Ackerman, and Sheila Jackson-Lee are co-sponsors of the bill.

State Department hoped by attracting private investment to these critically important areas through trade incentives, ROZs would make valuable contribution to regional growth, prosperity, and stability.

``Economic opportunities generated by ROZs constitute a key component of our long term strategy to counter conditions in which terrorism, drug trafficking, and other activities threatening U.S. and global security thrive,'' spokesman Tom Casey said.

``We share goal of protecting workers rights, and favor inclusion of labor criteria in legislation. We are concerned, however, that some labor provisions contained may prove impractical and ultimately hinder our common goal of bringing economic opportunity to people of Afghanistan and Pakistan and supporting their democratically melected governments, he stated.

``We look forward to working with Congress in a bipartisan and constructive manner to address these issues, and to getting an effective ROZ program enacted into law this year.''