LAHORE:

Despite the government's efforts to lure foreign direct investment (FDI) to stabilise a fragile economy, industry stakeholders believe that short-term inflows will remain episodic unless deep-rooted structural reforms are implemented to ensure long-term, innovation-based growth.

Local industry experts argue that the recent influx of investment pledges from China, the UAE and Belarus are encouraging, but not necessarily transformational. They say these new ventures are largely capital-intensive, not innovation-driven, and fail to compensate for the exit of multinational giants that set high benchmarks for research, development and corporate governance in the country.

"New investments from Chinese industrial ventures and the UAE banking interests are welcoming, but the loss of R&D

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