摘要：On Dec 23, 2020, British American Tobacco was reported as the first notable MNC to move its Business Process Outsourcing (BPO) activities to Pakistan after the withdrawal of Deutsche Bank’s operations. The move has been interpreted in an optimistic fashion, as a sign that there is increasing foreign investor trust in the country. Details regarding this historic milestone in the country’s development shared courtesy of TNI (The News International) include that Minister Razzak Dawood, Advisor to the PM on Commerce and Investment congratulated Pakistan Tobacco Company for winning the bidding process, and that British American Tobacco would soon set up a ‘Business Shared Services’ company to execute all BPO activities for Asia Pacific and the Middle East Region, based in Pakistan. Key factors scrutinised for the tender included existing commercial presence of BAT, country sustainability, and availability of workforce and talent. This event, a single contract by a foreign MNC with questionable motives, was hailed as the start of a new wave of opportunity by Razzaq Dawood. Any other MNC who wants to follow suit is being invited with open arms with promise of fast-tracked regulatory concessions. It is a great blow to national self-esteem to hear the Minister describe that ‘’the country is now being considered as a cost-effective location for activities like back office services, BPO, and call centers’’, according to reports about a meeting at the Ministry of Commerce in the same week..
