Business Leaders Summit: government accords priority to revive national economy: Qureshi

Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi said on Wednesday that priority of present government is to revitalise the national economy. Addressing the Business Leaders Summit here at a local hotel, he said six months ago when Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) came into power, the party inherited a lot of challenges, including corruption, flight of capital, and other socio-economic ills, which needed to be addressed.
The leaders in Islamabad Business Summit has brought together the most distinguished global leaders, business strategists, innovators, thinkers and futurists here for two days. Nutshell Forum and Martin Dow arranged the event. Shah Mehmood Qureshi said that the PTI economic team, under the leadership of Finance Minister Asad Umar, took various steps for economic uplift of the country during the first six months of the present government.
The foreign minister maintained that the government is taking measures to create conducive environment in the country to promote foreign direct investment (FDI) and these steps have already paid the dividends. He mentioned that 125 countries would benefit from the new regime with ease in getting visas. He further said the United Arab Emirates is taking keen interest in making investment in different sectors in Pakistan, while Qatar also planed to invest in the country's food processing industry. The government plans to make Pakistan a hub of business and investment in the region.
He said that Saudi Arab investment of $20 billion in development projects is a milestone for the country towards achieving economic stability. He said Pakistan has promoted bilateral trade with Iran, China and other countries of the region. "China is our strategic partner and we want to transform this relationship into an economic partnership," he said.
He maintained that Special Economic Zones under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would encourage foreign investment, leading to sustainable development. Qureshi lauded the European foreign ministers and parliamentarians for supporting Pakistan in securing GSP Plus facility for its exports.
Responding to relations with India, Qureshi said his government after assuming the power offered New Delhi a hand of friendship and asked for foreign ministers meeting at the sidelines of UN General Assembly to resolve all outstanding issues between the two neighbouring countries through dialogue. "Talks between the two countries on opening of Kartarpur Corridor, being held at Attari (India) on Thursday (today), are meant for peace in the region," he added. He said Pakistan is a developing country but absence of a proper administrative mechanism led to approach the International Monetary Fund (IMF) in the past.
The country is facing the challenges including 6.6 percent fiscal deficit, burden of loans, decline in foreign investment, unemployment and one-third of population living below poverty line like problems, he said. The foreign minister also said that Pakistan desires peace in Afghanistan and the government is facilitating Afghan peace process in this direction.
Minister of State for HRD and Overseas Pakistanis Syed Zulfiqar Abbas Bukhari said that rebuilding the institutions and pillars of accountability and transparency is foundation of any nation. Corruption has direct impact not only on economy but also has social impact on human beings. He said to end corruption, the government is introducing political and civil service reforms, he added, "We have zero corruption tolerance policy." Leveraging human resource development, he said first time in history any government has engaged overseas Pakistani in development of the country. The government brought banking experts, energy experts and other living abroad in the country to help building the nation, he said. He said a digital bank came to Pakistan at national level last week. This is product of overseas Pakistanis, he added. He said Prime Minister Imran Khan has also taken initiative to revitalise the economy through tourism.