Chinese government wants Pakistan’s progress through massive investments: Ahsan Iqbal

Lahore: Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that Chinese government wanted Pakistan’s progress through massive investments.

Addressing an international conference on Health Security organized by University of Veterinary and Animal Sciences (UVAS) here, Iqbal mentioned that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a great opportunity for Pakistan to return as a settled economy.

“CPEC is a great opportunity we got. The Chinese government is very much interested in investing in Pakistan,” he remarked.

Ahsan Iqbal asserted that the Chinese investors and companies had been making investments at vast level.

He added: “We have to learn a lesson that national development process should not be obstructed due to politics and mutual conflicts. National interest should not be sacrificed for the sake of mutual conflicts and politics. Therefore, we should learn to cooperate as Pakistanis to improve the country’s economy.”

He contended that the government was putting in order all possible measures for economic turnaround and within next two years, Pakistan would be enjoying economic turnaround as had been during 2013 to 2018.

Iqbal suggested that Pakistan needed to curb tax evasion; increase tax collection; and enhance exports from around Pakistani Rs 30 billion to Rs 100 billion in the next five to eight years to attain speedy economic development.

“We also need to develop the IT (Information Technology) skills of our youth, and there is a need to deal with the climate situation. Most importantly, we need to address the energy issue, which is a huge strain on Pakistan’s foreign exchange reserves. So we need to switch over to renewable energy sources and also to focus on equality in education and health,” he said.

Ahsan Iqbal called for strong industry-academia synergy to foster industrial productivity for enhanced exports and ensuring socio-economic development in the country.

Federal Minister underlined that as an agrarian country, Pakistan needed to promote agriculture and livestock sector to ensure food security keeping in view the increasing population that was estimated to be 330 million by year 2050.

“We have to utilize the available knowledge, skills and resources in an effective manner that will definitely expedite development process in every sector. The universities and research must play their role in the national development by bringing forth innovations while using modern technology,” he underscored.

He reminded that though Pakistan was 5th largest milk producing country and also among top ten countries of world with regard to yield of rice, wheat, sugarcane and other agri produces, its per acre yield was very low and its livestock growth was also slow, just because Pakistan lagged behind use of modern technology and methods in agri and livestock farming.

By adopting modern technology and methods in agriculture, livestock and dairy sectors, Pakistan could capture the global markets of halal meat and milk especially the Middle East, he hoped.

Ahsan Iqbal insisted that Pakistan had no dearth of talented and management skills people, who could help pull the country out of current problems by playing their due role.

He was of the view that at least ten years were needed for the success of a policy for which continuity of socio-economic policies were of great importance.