Pakistan had paid heavy cost in war against terrorism, not only its army personnels but also economy destroyed by it protected the world at the cost of its own huge loss. Now world should come forward for the help of Pakistan, said foreign minister Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi while addressing the executive committee of Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry last night, chaired by MCCI chief Khawaja Muhammad Jalaluddin Roomi.
While Syed Ahmed Mujtaba Gilani younger brother of Prime Minister Syed Yousaf Raza Gilani was the chief Guest. He said that friend in need is friend indeed and our friends should come forward for the economic stability of Pakistan and merely lip service cannot compensate us.
He said that we had established a group of friends of democratic Pakistan in New York to bailout Pakistan. In which G-7 countries, Saudi Arabia, Kuwait, Japan, Australia, Italy, China and Germany were included. Foreign Minister said that Kuwait will provide food items to help people affected by the earthquake in Balochistan. While talking to media persons at the local airport, he said that federal government will extend complete assistance to help the Balochistan government and the people affected by the earthquake.
He expressed deep grief over the tragedy and offered heartfelt condolences for those who lost their lives. Foreign Minister said that he personally talked to the Balochistan Chief Minister by telephone to seek information about the incident.
At present, the government is focusing on providing immediate relief to the affected people. Rescue operation was in progress, he said and added that assessment of damage caused by the earthquake was being made. He said that the ambassador of Kuwait in Pakistan had contacted him to offer food items from the Kuwait government to the quake-affected people of Balochistan.
He said that Chief Secretary Balochistan has been informed of the offer and Kuwait ambassador has been requested to contact him. The foreign minister said that petroleum prices are being revised and a summary would be submitted to the Prime Minister on his return to the country. He said that government was fully aware of the problems of the people and was studying different options to offer relief to them.
Makhdoom Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that government has directed Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) to make interventional purchase of 'Phutti' after noticing that its prices were going down. He said that support price of Phutti has been fixed at Rs 1,500 per maund and TCP will purchase Phutti in case the domestic market price goes below this level.
He said that support price of rice has also been fixed at Rs 700 per maund in case of Irri and Rs 1,500 per maund for Basmati rice. He said that the above mentioned two decisions were taken to benefit the farming community of the country. Qureshi said that price of DAP fertiliser has also been controlled and now it is available in the market at a reasonable price.
The Minister said that recently held grand Pak-Afghan Jirga was a landmark achievement and we are happy to note that both sides had unanimity of views on most of the issues and a joint strategy was decided there. This strategy was similar to the multi-pronged strategy our parliament had decided in its in-camera session including political engagement, socio-economic uplift of the people and use of force where necessary.
To a question, he explained that the strategy included having access to those people who were not politically engaged earlier. He said that culture and traditions of the tribal areas will be given due respect. He said that Nato and US think tanks are also coming closer to our point of view on the issue.
To a question, Foreign Minister said that if any Pakistani has money in foreign banks then he should bring it back to Pakistan and invest it in the country on good business options adding that government was providing a conducive environment and offering handsome incentives to attract investment.
He lauded overseas Pakistanis for sending remittances worth billions of dollars annually but added that they should enhance their remittances further to help Pakistan overcome the resource crisis.
He said Pakistan's economy has the resilience and strength to come out of the troubles pleading that sizeable portion of most of the segments of our economy do not wholly rely on institutional credit. He said that Pakistan will come out of the economic woes soon. He said that Pakistan was not alone in facing the economic crisis adding that it was a global phenomenon that also affected banking sector and stock exchanges of the other countries.
When asked about IMF bailout plan, FM said that government was considering different options to find out a way as to how to fill the resource gap. He said that the IMF was offering concessional credit with reasonable interest rate and government will see which option benefits it. He said that government has reduced its expenditures and adopted measures including bill-tightening measures and imposition of high duty on luxury items.
He said that Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) has also been revised and added that project of new GHQ worth billions of rupees has been deferred. This shows that government and the institutions were well aware of the difficulties and were responding to it with responsibility.
Federal Minister disclosed that Germany has decided to increase Pakistan's economic assistance. He said that his meetings with German and Italian ministers proved fruitful. He also mentioned positive results achieved during recent visit to China and added that promises of economic support from Germany, Italy, the two big economies of European market, was a major step forward.
He urged media to highlight the developments that government has achieved to overcome the crisis situation so that the people who worry about Pakistan should not become pessimist and come out of the hopelessness. We respect media's right to highlight weaknesses if any but they should also focus positive developments, FM said. Later Shah Mehmood Qureshi presided over a Seminar on "B-T" cotton organised by Bahahuddin Zakariya University on Thursday .
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