President Asif Ali Zardari said on Friday that Pakistan is poised to serve as a regional hub of economic activities due to its strategic location in the area. He was speaking at the formal inauguration of liquid cargo terminal at Port Qasim. Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah, Minister for Ports and Shipping Senator Babar Khan Ghouri, State Minister Nabil Gabol were also present on the occasion.
The President said that Pakistan should not be seen only as a large market of 180 million people, but also seen as a hub of economic activities and other adjacent markets. With 1.2 billion population market on its right and more than 1 billion in up-north and large market of Central Asian Republic in the east, the country is poised to serve as a regional hub and the nearest port to these countries.
Pakistani ports network offers the shortest possible distance to China, Central Asia and other neighbours. The President said that the work on regional pipeline for gas is also on to serve as energy corridor upto central China from Pakistani ports. With all the features and endowments, Pakistan is poised to serve as a regional hub in the area, he noted.
He said that Pakistan would also serve as the major food producer in the area as well as neighbouring regions. In the next couple of years, Pakistan would enhance its per acre yield by three to five times with the help of new high yielding seeds from our great friend China and also seed indigenization.
Zardari suggested the capital market players to raise funds at stock exchanges in local currency instead of borrowing in foreign currencies. The government was already working on this idea and the Finance Minister and his team was preparing a paper in this regard.
This will reduce our dependence on foreign currency loans and enhance the importance of Pakistani rupee in the international market. We need professional management and stock exchange will serve as vehicle for this project, he opined. He said that this will also increase values of scrips at our capital market which is still undervalued.
Referring to another plan of the government to provide 12 percent ownership to workers in state-owned institutions, the President said that it would give the workers an incentive to work hard. He also suggested Minster for Ports and Shipping to charge only the cost of land from investors and instead take bonus share in the company. Do not charge Rs 4 million per acre from them at the beginning of project, just charge the cost of land. It is the start of the project where the companies face shortage of funds, he observed.