Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif Thursday said his government has successfully addressed the challenges of terrorism, energy shortages and economic revival and Pakistan today is fast heading towards a promising and prosperous future. He was giving a talk on "Regions in Transformation - South Asia" here at the Congress Centre. The Prime Minister shared with the participants the perspective of Pakistan in the regional context. The event was held in the form of a panel discussion that was moderated by Lisa Gibbs, Business Editor of the Associated Press, involving a question-answer session.
The focus of Prime Minister's talk was on "Infrastructure and energy security threats, economic inequality and job creation and impact of regional integration initiatives." The other participants included Prime Minister of Sri Lanka Ranil Wickremesinghe, Chairman Yunus Centre Muhammad Yunus, Chanda Kochhar of ICICI Bank and President of Asian Development Bank, Takeshiko Nakao. The Prime Minister said the decision to launch military operation Zarb-e-Azb was taken after careful consideration; it was calculated and 180,000 troops were committed to it who yielded very good results. "We were able to destroy their infrastructure and dismantle their networks, hideouts and sanctuaries and this has broken their back."
"We knew that the blowback would be severe. It was severe when the operation was started and now the terrorists are on the run and they are choosing soft targets," the Prime Minister said. He referred to the tragic incident of terrorist attack at the Bacha Khan University in Charsadda a day earlier, and said the university proved to be an easy target for terrorists and precious lives were lost.
He, however said that the ability of terrorists to strike back has been considerably weakened. He said that Pakistan has paid a very heavy price in terms of lives, apart from economic losses of more than hundred billion dollars.
"However our resolve to fight terrorists is getting stronger," Sharif said. The Prime Minister said it was very important for his government to tackle the challenges it inherited, as soon as his government came into power. He said these involved; reviving national economy, power shortage and scourge of terrorism. "So I think we were successful on all these three fronts and with terrorism coming down, and militancy reducing, the economy is picking up, he said."
Sharif mentioned that the country's GDP growth rate was 3 percent, now it was 4.2 percent and he was expecting it to cross 5 percent mark, inflation was down to 2 percent, unemployment was also declining sharply and at the same time revenues were increasing at a rate of 33 per cent.
"A very good turnaround is taking place in Pakistan and investment is pouring in," Sharif said. He mentioned that Pakistan's economy was on the right track and his country was getting an investment of 46 billion US dollars from China alone. He said investment was coming in three main areas of infrastructure, power sector and railways.
The Prime Minister said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was not limited to Pakistan alone rather it would benefit the entire region. He said more than half of world's population stands to gain from the CPEC that would link many countries and regions to boost trade.
He termed the CPEC as a game changer for the entire region and said the future of the world was in this region. He said there has been an overall improvement in the national economy. He also mentioned the lowering of interest rates to boost economic activity and said the focus of his government was on creating jobs in diverse fields.
Responding to a question about creation of employment opportunities, the Prime Minister said a number of institutions in Pakistan were providing necessary skills to young people to help them learn new skills. He said his government has launched many schemes for the SMEs and youth to provide loans to help them start their own business.
The government was providing loans to 50 per cent women, as "we want to encourage our young people and Small and Medium Enterprises as they will serve as the backbone of our industries." The Prime Minister said his government was providing jobs to jobless, while the government was also pumping its own money to help the applicants get loans on lower rates from the banks.
He said the youth of the country were the real driving force and would take the country forward. He said foreign and domestic investment was on the rise with the decline in terrorism incidents, however he said operations would continue till the elimination of the last terrorist.
He said foreign companies were pumping in more money in Pakistan, while the local investors too were playing their part. He said most of the investment was going into the energy sector. The Prime Minister said the challenge of energy was being taken care of. Pakistan was building three major dams that would generate 17,000 MWs. He also mentioned coal, solar and wind mills that would help 10,000 MW by end of 2017 or start of 2018.
He mentioned the decline in international oil prices and said lower prices have been passed on to the nation and have helped boost national economy. He said similarly the price of electricity has also declined and helped the industrial sector tremendously, helping boost their output and lowered costs.
The Prime Minister said work on the Turkmenistan Afghanistan Pakistan and India (TAPI) gas pipeline would boost country's industrial sector. He said Gwadar Port would be one of the most modern ports and help the landlocked countries of Central Asian Republics and Afghanistan get access to country's deep sea port.
He said the country witnessed a great setback to its economy due to nationalisation policy of '70s. He said his government was now pursuing a de-nationalisation program and said it would help the private sector enter many new areas and boost the economy. He said it would help the country get large taxes through the involvement of private sector. Prime Minister Sharif pointed out that his government has undertaken privatisation of banks, financial institutions and industries.
The other participants conveyed their grief over the loss of precious lives in the terror strike on Bacha Khan University and said the challenge of terrorism needs to be addressed through cooperation. The Prime Minister of Sri Lanka said South Asia has achieved little progress in many areas as security is a main issue particularly in Pakistan and Afghanistan. He expressed the hope that Pakistan will regain prosperity and peace soon.
Regarding job creation, the Prime Minister of Sri Lanka said his country has already done a Free Trade Agreement with Pakistan and was also working closely with China and hoped it would boost his country's economic prosperity. He said the private sector too was playing a key role to help generate employment and growth in various sectors.
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