Prime Minister Imran Khan on Saturday said creating new job opportunities for youths in the merged areas of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa is among top priorities of government.

PM Khan said the present government has provided record funds for the merged areas, and it is a big achievement of the PTI government to take forward the merger process. He said the real objective to merge the erstwhile FATA areas into KP is to provide facilities to the people of these areas on the pattern of other parts of the country.

He said unfortunately these areas were ignored in the past. The premier was chairing a meeting of KP provincial cabinet in Peshawar. Governor KP, Shah Farman, Chief Minister Mahmood Khan, Provincial Assembly Speaker Mushtaq Ahmad Ghani, members of the provincial cabinet, advisor, special assistants and others were present in the meeting. It was held at Governor's House in Peshawar.

The meeting thoroughly deliberated upon overall law and order situation and development process in the erstwhile Federally Administered Tribal Areas. PM Khan ordered creation of employment opportunities in the erstwhile FATA areas to ensure socio-economic progress of the region.

The PM Khan directed the concerned authorities to take effective steps to enhance trade and business activities for the socio economic development of merged districts. He also underscored the need for stepping up efforts aimed at promoting tourism in KP.

Talking about tourism, PM Imran said, "Saudi Arabia has expressed interest in investing in the tourism sector and the KP Government should focus on fully exploiting the tourism potential of the province." Earlier, the PM briefed about performance of the KP government.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2019