Chief of the Naval Staff Admiral Zafar Mahmood Abbasi has said that through mutual cooperation and joint efforts with the business community the country's maritime economy can be boosted and Pakistan's gross domestic product growth can be tripled.
He stressed the need to give a jumpstart to the maritime sector through exploration of untapped natural resources abundantly available in this particular sector, which can only be done by bringing the business community into the effort.
The naval chief said Pakistan has natural resources available at its coastal belt, but most of them remain unexplored and neglected. This was the basic reason why he formulated three pillars of his Command Vision soon after assuming charge as naval chief. One pillar is to jumpstart the maritime sector.
Speaking at a meeting of the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and industry (KCCI), he said that Pakistanis should jointly serve the national cause of developing country's maritime sector by making collective efforts for the country's progress and prosperity.
He said that the maritime sector is currently being governed by nine ministries. This has to be reconsidered and the entire maritime sector should be brought under one ministry in which only those individuals should be appointed who have the expertise, knowledge and experience, and who fully understand the intricacies of this sector. Not every bureaucrat can fully understand the intricacies of this important sector, he added.
He said that although the Ministry of Ports and Shipping has been renamed Ministry of Maritime Affairs, this is not enough because lots of real reforms have to be introduced in this ministry.
"It is not going to be an easy task to implement reforms as the bureaucracy has been resisting them, but we will try our best to get the reforms implemented," he added.
Referring to the lack of maritime education in universities, he said that not a single university exists in the country where students could get education on maritime subjects.
In this regard, the Navy is willing to introduce Centre of Excellence on Oceans and Maritime Subjects at Bahria University and eventually create a maritime university, together with a maritime science and technology park.
He said that a maritime works organization will also be established because the country lacks expertise on setting up coastal infrastructure, ports and harbours.
"If we have to construct a jetty, we hire foreign experts as we don't have the expertise available in Pakistan," he said. Since no expertise is available either for offshore resources exploitation, a maritime works organization will be a core organization to be established through joint ventures and will eventually become self-sufficient.
He said that the prime minister has given approval for setting up a shipyard at Gwadar with a capacity to construct ships of up to 600,000 tons. More shipyards are needed in Karachi, and they will be created in collaboration with the private sector, he said.
He invited the business community to invest in the shipyard business.
The chairman of the Businessmen Group and former president of the KCCI, Siraj Kassam Teli, said that it is the first time in the history of the Karachi Chamber that it was visited by a naval chief.
He said he hoped that the Chief of the Army Staff and the Chief of the Air Staff will also follow the trend, noting that the real fight for survival around the world has now moved from the battlefield to the economic front.
"Our objective is to build new and strong relations with Pakistan Navy which would certainly prove beneficial for the country," Siraj Teli said, expressing the hope that the visit of the naval chief will result in a new trend in which a naval chief visits the KCCI twice or thrice during his tenure and maintain strong interaction with the business and industrial community of Karachi.
He said that the business and industrial community of Karachi has been playing the lead role in the economic development of Pakistan by contributing over 60 percent revenue to the national exchequer and 20 percent to GDP growth.
"But unfortunately our contribution has not been acknowledged, neither by the present government nor by previous governments. Politicians usually deny our contribution, continue to squeeze us and take away all the benefits from this city, and when it comes to giving back something to this city, none of them even show the intent to work sincerely for this city," he added.
He said that the Karachi Chamber has been dedicatedly serving the business and industrial community and has been raising its voice for NFC Awards, political uncertainty, law and order situation and other issues affecting Karachi and its business and industrial community.
Referring to the Navy's presentation during the meeting, which focused on highlighting the potential of the maritime sector, he underscored the need to form a committee comprising at least three representatives of Karachi Chamber and the same number of representatives from Navy in order to study and further explore opportunities available in the maritime sector.
All the potential areas in this sector identified by the Navy should be thoroughly reviewed by the proposed committee in order to see what can be done and how the KCCI can assist in attracting potential businesses and investors, besides facilitating joint ventures and collaborations in this particular sector, he said.
He said that development work on many sectors, including wind power, is already underway and some projects have been established. The potential areas have to be reexamined by the proposed committee, he added.
Siraj Teli also underscored the need to ease the security measures at the coastal belt for promotion of maritime tourism.
"Politicians want to become businessmen, Businessmen want to become politicians and officers of the armed forces want to do politics, which has resulted in ruining the very fabric of society," he said. "We should discuss all these things and make a resolve on how to run this country," he added.
Former president of the KCCI, Anjum Nisar, said that it was heartening that the Navy has finally realized the important role which can be played by the business and industrial community in the development of the maritime sector.
The huge exclusive economic zone available at the coastal belt of Pakistan with abundant natural resources needs to be explored and the Navy's intention to engage the private sector would certainly prove fruitful, he said.
He said that the business community should be allowed to explore investment opportunities in the maritime sector and also be provided one-window operations to facilitate investment in this sector.
The president of the KCCI, Muffasar Atta Malik, said the Navy has played a significant role in the defence of Pakistan. "It is really heartening to see that Pakistan Navy has achieved astounding success with the passage of time by achieving numerous milestones."
CPEC holds great promise for the progress of the country but at the same time it has added new dimension to the overall threat spectrum. "We highly appreciate and warmly welcome Pakistan Navy's commitment and readiness to effectively protect our maritime frontiers, including Gwadar Port and CPEC projects against all challenges and threats," he added.