Pakistan Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz today pledged to provide "a level playing field" in a bid to attract foreign investors to bolster his country's economy.

At the same time, Aziz downplayed sectarian violence and terrorism threats, saying they were being contained, and he assured Malaysian business leaders that their investments would be safe.

"On Pakistan's economy, we have come a long way in the last five years. We have a lot more distance to cover. We have introduced reforms but our tasks are far from over," he told a meeting of the Asian Strategic and Leadership Institute here.

He urged investors to put Pakistan high on their radar screens.

"Pakistan is one of the few countries where there is a level playing field. There is deregulation. You can have a 100 percent stake in your company. There is a very liberal mind-set now in Pakistan," the former finance minister said.

Aziz identified construction, hotels and health as sectors that offered opportunites for investors, adding: "You can get into any area."

"Pakistan is now on an upward trajectory of economic growth. Pakistan of today and tomorrow is a Pakistan of opportunity and progress," he said.

"Pakistan's economy is back on track so we have told the IMF we will not need any new borrowing," he added.

Security considerations

Aziz, who worked with US banking giant Citibank for 30 years, said Pakistan would borrow for development purposes from the World Bank and the capital markets which had proved very successful.

"We went for a Euro-bond issue (recently); we thought we will raise three to five hundred million dollars and we got subscriptions of two billion dollars. We took five hundred dollars and returned the rest with a thank-you note."

Aziz said Pakistan used to have to spend almost two-thirds of government revenue on debt servicing but this has changed.

"Borrowing for consumption ... is what we are avoiding. Borrowing for development and growth is most welcome," he added.

Potential Malaysian investors said they needed more convincing.

"There are still security and political considerations before we can consider investing in Pakistan," a director of a Malaysian construction company said on condition of anonymity.