[Congressional Bills 111th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[S. 3665 Introduced in Senate (IS)]
111th CONGRESS
2d Session
S. 3665
To promote the strengthening of the private sector in Pakistan.
_______________________________________________________________________
IN THE SENATE OF THE UNITED STATES
July 29, 2010
Mr. Lugar (for himself and Mr. Kerry) introduced the following bill;
which was read twice and referred to the Committee on Foreign Relations
_______________________________________________________________________
A BILL
To promote the strengthening of the private sector in Pakistan.
Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the
United States of America in Congress assembled,
SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.
This Act may be cited as the ``Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund
Act''.
SEC. 2. FINDINGS.
Congress makes the following findings:
(1) Pakistan currently enjoys a strong private sector and
entrepreneurial spirit. The country is working to consolidate
macroeconomic stability and initiate structural reforms with
support from the International Monetary Fund's (IMF) Stand-By
Agreement. A more stable economy in Pakistan will help support
Pakistan's robust private sector. Enterprise Funds established
in partnership with United States partners like Poland,
Hungary, Albania, Russia, and other European countries have
proven beneficial to their economies. Creating a similar fund
in close partnership with the people of Pakistan could help
sustain and expand their reform efforts as well as empower
entrepreneurs in Pakistan with the resources required to create
desperately needed employment opportunities.
(2) A 2009 assessment released by the IMF noted, ``Economic
growth in Pakistan is starting to recover; large-scale
manufacturing output has started to increase, the improvement
in the global economy has helped manufacturing exports, and the
private sector credit growth has picked up somewhat as
businesses rebuild their working capital. Looking ahead, a
resumption of higher growth is needed to raise living standards
and will require improvements in the business climate to
stimulate higher investment by local and foreign investors.''
(3) Pakistan has seen a dramatic fall in foreign direct
investment (FDI) in recent years. According to Pakistan's Board
of Investment (BOI), foreign direct investment dropped by 40.7
percent from the July 2008-June 2009 time period to the July
2009-June 2010 time period. Pakistan secured $5,139,600,000 in
FDI in 2006-2007 and $5,152,800,000 in 2007-2008, but the
amount dropped to $2,205,000,000 in 2009-2010.
(4) According to the Asian Development Bank's 2008 report
on Pakistan's private sector, Pakistan's private sector is by
far the biggest contributor to GDP and is the biggest employer
in the country. According to Pakistan's Small and Medium Sized
Development Authority (SMEDA), small and medium sized
enterprises (SMEs) constitute nearly 90 percent of all
enterprises in Pakistan, employ 80 percent of the non-
agricultural labor force, and constitute an approximately 40
percent share of annual GDP. Pakistan's SMEs are particularly
constrained by lack of access to financial and other resources.
Accelerating the growth of existing SMEs and providing
innovative entrepreneurs with resources to set up new ventures
has the potential to significantly contribute to stability
through job creation and support overall economic success in
Pakistan.
(5) The shortage of risk capital in Pakistan stems from the
effects of the global economic crisis but has been greatly
exacerbated by both political and security challenges plaguing
the country. Establishing an enterprise fund could help
reinforce financial institutions within the country, provide
debt and equity investment for commercially viable SMEs,
provide debt and equity investment in private sector entities
and initiatives in the energy sector, and make the investment
environment more attractive to domestic and international
investors.
(6) Creation of an enterprise fund could promote the growth
of the private sector in Pakistan while simultaneously
incentivize companies to operate within the formal economy.
Estimates by the IMF and World Bank suggest that the informal
or underground economy in Pakistan far exceeds the fiscal
activity government institutions are able to systematically
measure. Any company or business supported by the enterprise
fund would be required to operate within specific legal and
accounting standards and comply with applicable tax codes. In a
country with extremely low levels of tax collection--less than
2 percent of the population is believed to pay personal taxes--
leadership by the private sector could set an invaluable
example within the country.
(7) To help foster and support the fledgling private sector
after the fall of the Berlin Wall, Congress, through enactment
of the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989
(22 U.S.C. 5401 et seq.) and the FREEDOM Support Act (22 U.S.C.
5801 et seq.), authorized nearly $1,200,000,000 for the United
States Agency for International Development (USAID) to
establish 10 new investment funds, collectively known as the
``Enterprise Funds'', throughout Central and Eastern Europe and
the former Soviet Union. These funds channeled funding into
over 500 enterprises in 19 countries, leveraged an additional
$5,000,000,000 in private investment capital from outside the
United States Government, provided substantial development
capital where supply was limited, created or sustained over
260,000 jobs through investment and development activities,
funded $74,000,000 in technical assistance to strengthen the
private sector, and is expected to recoup 137 percent of the
original USAID funding.
SEC. 3. PURPOSES.
The purposes of this Act are--
(1) to promote the private sector in Pakistan, while
considering the development impact of investments and
profitability of those investments, particularly in small- and
medium-sized enterprises, the energy and electricity sector,
and joint ventures with participants from the United States and
Pakistan;
(2) to promote policies and practices conducive to
strengthening the private sector in Pakistan through measures
including loans, microloans, equity investments, insurance,
guarantees, grants, feasibility studies, technical assistance,
training for businesses receiving investment capital, and other
measures;
(3) to promote good corporate governance and transparency
in Pakistan, foster competition, catalyze productivity
improvements in existing businesses, and strengthen local
capital markets;
(4) to promote security through job creation in the private
sector in Pakistan and to further the creation of a middle
class in Pakistan; and
(5) to promote private sector adherence to tax codes in
Pakistan and, where appropriate, foster improvements in the tax
code and regulatory environment in Pakistan in order to support
economic development.
SEC. 4. PAKISTANI-AMERICAN ENTERPRISE FUND.
(a) Designation.--The President is authorized to designate a
private, nonprofit organization based in Pakistan (to be known as the
``Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund'') to receive funds and support
made available under this Act after determining that such organization
has been established for the purposes specified in section 3. The
President should make such designation only after consultation with the
leadership of each House of Congress.
(b) Board of Directors.--
(1) Appointment.--The Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund
shall be governed by a Board of Directors, which shall be
comprised of 4 private citizens of the United States and 3
private citizens of Pakistan, appointed by the President of the
United States in consultation with the Government of Pakistan.
(2) Qualifications.--Members of the Board of Directors
shall be selected from among people who have had successful
business careers and demonstrated experience and expertise in
international and particularly emerging markets, such as
private equity or venture capital investment, banking, finance,
strategic business consulting, or entrepreneurial business
creation, and backgrounds in priority business sectors of the
Fund, such as the energy sector.
(3) Additional usaid non-voting board member.--The
President shall appoint one official or employee of USAID as an
additional non-voting member of the Board.
(4) Additional non-government non-voting board members.--
(A) Authority to appoint.--Upon the recommendation
of the Board of Directors, the President may appoint up
to 2 additional non-voting members to the Board in
addition to the members specified in paragraphs (1) and
(3), of which not more than one may be a non-citizen of
the United States.
(B) NGO community.--One of the additional non-
voting Board members shall represent the
nongovernmental organization community, with
significant prior experience in development and an
understanding of development policy priorities for
Pakistan.
(C) Technical expertise.--One of the additional
non-voting Board members shall have extensive
demonstrated industry, sector, or technical experience
and expertise in a priority investment sector for the
Fund.
(c) Grants.--
(1) In general.--The President may use funds appropriated
pursuant to section 102 of the Enhanced Partnership with
Pakistan Act of 2009 (22 U.S.C. 8412) to carry out the purposes
specified in section 3 through the Pakistani-American
Enterprise Fund and to cover administrative expenses of the
Fund.
(2) Eligible programs and projects.--Grants awarded under
this section may only be used for programs and projects that
support the purposes set forth in section 3.
(3) Compliance requirements.--
(A) In general.--Grants may not be awarded to the
Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund under this section
unless the Fund agrees to comply with the requirements
under this section.
(B) Grant agreement.--The grant agreement between
the United States Agency for International Development
and the Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund shall state
that the Fund shall liquidate its assets and dissolve
not later than December 31, 2020, unless the
Administrator of the United States Agency for
International Development determines, after
consultation with the appropriate congressional
committees, that the Fund should be extended.
(C) Prevention of money laundering and terrorist
financing.--The grant agreement between the United
States Agency for International Development and the
Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund shall state that the
Fund shall comply with procedures specified by the
Secretary of State to ensure that grant funds are not
provided by the Fund to or through any individual,
private or government entity, or educational
institution that advocates, plans, sponsors, engages
in, or has engaged in, money laundering or terrorist
activity or, with respect to a private entity or
educational institution, that has as a principal
officer of the entity's governing board or governing
board of trustees any individual that has been
determined to be involved in or advocating money
laundering or terrorist activity or determined to be a
member of a designated foreign terrorist organization.
(D) Disposition of assets.--The assets of the
Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund at the time the Fund
is dissolved shall be returned to the General Fund of
the United States Treasury and used to reduce the debt
of the United States, unless otherwise specified by the
appropriate congressional committees.
(d) Notification.--
(1) In general.--Not later than 15 days before designating
an organization to operate as the Pakistani-American Enterprise
Fund pursuant to subsection (a), the President shall provide
the information described in paragraph (2) to the Chairman and
Ranking Member of the appropriate congressional committees.
(2) Information.--The information described in this
paragraph is--
(A) the identity of the organization to be
designated to operate as the Pakistani-American
Enterprise Fund pursuant to subsection (a);
(B) the names and qualifications of the individuals
who will comprise the initial Board of Directors; and
(C) the procedures referred to in subsection
(c)(3)(C) that will apply to the Pakistani-American
Enterprise Fund for purposes of curtailing money-
laundering and terrorist financing activities.
(e) Public Disclosure.--Not later than one year after the entry
into force of the initial grant agreement under this section, and
annually thereafter, the Fund shall prepare and make available to the
public on an Internet website administered by the Fund a report on the
Fund's activities during the previous year, including--
(1) a description of each investment or project supported
by the Fund, including each type of assistance provided in
accordance with section 3(2);
(2) the amounts invested by the Fund in each company or
project;
(3) the amounts of additional private investments made in
each company or project; and
(4) the amounts of any profits or losses realized by the
Fund in connection with each such company or project.
SEC. 5. REPORTS.
(a) Administrative Expenses.--Not later than one year after the
date of the enactment of this Act, and annually thereafter until the
Fund is dissolved, the Fund shall submit to the appropriate
congressional committees a report detailing the administrative expenses
of the Fund.
(b) GAO Report.--Not later than 3 years after the date of the
enactment of this Act, and every 3 years thereafter until the Fund is
dissolved, the Comptroller General of the United States shall submit to
the appropriate congressional committees a report assessing the
activities of the Fund in achieving the stated goals of promoting
private sector investment and employment in Pakistan and identifying
those institutional or regulatory constraints that inhibit a more
effective application of Fund resources.
SEC. 6. OPERATION PROVISIONS.
(a) Applicable Provisions.--Subsections (d)(5), (g), (h), (i), (k),
(l), (m), (n), (o), and (p) of section 201 of the Support for East
European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (22 U.S.C. 5421) shall apply with
respect to the Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund in the same manner as
such provisions apply to Enterprise Funds designated pursuant to
subsection (d) of such section.
(b) Reinvestment.--Returns on investments of the Pakistani-American
Enterprise Fund and other payments to the Fund may be reinvested in
projects carried out by the Fund without further appropriation by
Congress.
SEC. 7. BEST PRACTICES AND PROCEDURES.
To the maximum extent practicable, the Board of Directors of the
Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund should adopt the best practices and
procedures used by Enterprise Funds, including those for which funding
has been made available pursuant to section 201 of the Support for East
European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (22 U.S.C. 5421).
SEC. 8. EXPERIENCE OF OTHER ENTERPRISE FUNDS.
In implementing this Act, the President shall ensure that the
Articles of Incorporation of the Pakistani-American Enterprise Fund
(including provisions specifying the responsibilities of the Board of
Directors of the Fund), the terms of United States Government grant
agreements with the Fund, and United States Government oversight of the
Fund are, to the maximum extent practicable, consistent with the
Articles of Incorporation of, the terms of grant agreements with, and
the oversight of the Enterprise Funds established pursuant to section
201 of the Support for East European Democracy (SEED) Act of 1989 (22
U.S.C. 5421) and comparable provisions of law.
SEC. 9. APPROPRIATE CONGRESSIONAL COMMITTEES DEFINED.
In this Act, the term ``appropriate congressional committees''
means--
(1) the Committee on Foreign Relations of the Senate;
(2) the Committee on Appropriations of the Senate;
(3) the Committee on Foreign Affairs of the House of
Representatives; and
(4) the Committee on Appropriations of the House of
Representatives.
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