Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has asked the opposition to use the platform of parliament to decide the issues of national importance and abstain from giving strike calls, which badly hit the country's economy.
Talking to newsmen after foundation stone laying ceremony of Honda Atlas Car expansion plant here on Monday, Shaukat said that the strike would not benefit anyone except causing problems for the common man.
"The closure of business and industrial activities due to strike, mainly effects the daily wages-employees as well as industrialists," he added.
He further said we should discourage the negative thinking and focus on expansion of country's industrial base so that economic prosperity could be brought in the country. Our foremost priority should be economic stability in the country to make the country stable, he maintained.
Earlier, speaking at the foundation stone laying ceremony, the Prime Minister said the government has provided conducive environment to the industry, particularly for the auto mobile sector and reduced the import of used vehicle.
"Our government is still implementing the policies initiated by General Pervez Musharraf's government," he added.
He urged the industrialists to enhance their production capacity to meet the ever-increasing domestic demand. The premium being charged on locally manufactured vehicles is damaging the automobile industry's image among the people. The local automobile sector produced 30,000 vehicles in year 2000 while we crossed the level of 100,000 units this year and are expecting to achieve the target of 150,000 units by next year, he added.
The demand of four-wheel vehicles is expected to touch half a million mark by 2010 and industry would have to gear up to meet this demand, he maintained.
The Prime Minister further said that maximum demand of motorcycles and mobile phones is coming from rural areas, which reflects the purchasing power of the people living in rural areas of the country. He urged the industry to improve quality of products to come up to the expectations of people.
If industry grows, the country would grow and the government wanted private sector to lead the development leap as a catalyst in the country, he said.
He said the government was working on infrastructure development, which results in development of road network, especially south-north connectivity corridors. It would also ensure smooth connectivity of both parts of the country, he added.
Moreover, farm to market roads and related infrastructure would ensure an expanded road infrastructure, which needs more vehicles, especially family cars, he said.
Expressing his satisfaction over expansion of industry, he said that it would help provide more job opportunities for the skilled people. Our manpower is second to none and the only need is to provide them chance and training to groom themselves, he added.
He said that impact of economic growth would trickle down with the passage of time. He hoped that vendors would adopt new manufacturing techniques to provide sharp edge quality so as to survive in tough competitive regime.
"Pakistan has already changed its focus from Textile to Engineering to create more jobs at the level of vendors. We are foreseeing Pakistan as hub of engineering industry in near future", he said.
He stated that during his recent visit of Japan, he had persuaded the Japanese investors to relocate their industry over here in Pakistan, he added. He said we are looking forward, as GDP growth rate of 8.4 percent has been achieved during last fiscal.
He asked Satoshi Toshida, Senior Managing Director of Japan's Honda Motors Company and Mamoru Suwama, Chief Executive Officer, Honda Atlas cars, Pakistan to send back a message to their country that now Pakistan is one of the best countries in the region for foreign investment.
Earlier, speaking on this occasion, Chairman Honda Atlas Cars, Yusuf H Shirazi said that Indian automobile industry is enjoying various incentives like low-interest rate ie 7-percent against 10-percent of Pakistan, 5-12 percent sales tax as compared to 15-percent in Pakistan.
Punjab Governor Lieutenant General Khalid Maqbool (Retd), Federal Minister for Industries Production and Special Initiatives, Jehangir Khan Tareen, Punjab Minister for Industries Muhammad Ajmal Cheema and other leading businessmen and industrialists were also present on this occasion.