SIALKOT: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the government will extend full facilitation to the business community for industrialisation and enhancement of exports.
The Prime Minister said this while addressing a gathering of the business community after the inauguration of AirSial airlines in Sialkot on Wednesday.
The Prime Minister assured that hurdles in the way of promotion of businesses will be removed. He said that special steps are being taken to encourage small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The Prime Minister said that industrialisation and increase in exports will lead to wealth creation and enhancement of foreign exchange reserves. He expressed confidence that Sialkot, Gujranwala and Gujrat will become a key region of exports in the country.
He congratulated the business community of Sialkot for building an airport and launching an airline with their own resources.
He underscored that Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar and Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood and the business community have a solid interaction. “They listen to their problems and convey it to us, and we try our best to solve them,” he observed.
Referring to China’s model of inclusive development, Imran Khan said the biggest objective of his government is to uplift the living standard of the poor and bring backward areas at par with other parts of the country.
He said special focus is being laid on the less developed regions such as Balochistan, merged districts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Gilgit-Baltistan.
About the COVID-19 challenge, the Prime Minister said Pakistan is one of the few countries that better handled the pandemic in its first phase. He said the government’s policy of protecting the lives and livelihood of people proved quite effective.
He said now in the second wave, people again need to follow the SOPs so that the pandemic could be overcome. He regretted that the opposition that had been criticizing the government for not observing complete lockdown is not holding public gatherings.
“The same opposition that criticised me for not doing a complete lockdown and used to give the example of India’s Narendra Modi and its lockdown, is now holding public rallies,” he said.
“I will repeat – wear a mask. It is the only way to stop the virus,” the Prime Minister said.
Earlier while inaugurating the airline, the PM said that Air Sial will create competition for other Pakistani airlines.
Air Sial is Pakistan’s third private airline. Its first flight via Airbus A320 landed at the Jinnah International Airport in Karachi from the United States last month. The airline had to delay from June because of the COVID-19 pandemic and the subsequent restrictions on air travel.
The airline’s operations will initially rely on three Airbus A320-200s, which have been leased from AerCap, the world’s largest independent aircraft leasing company, based in Dublin, Ireland.
The Premier said he is visiting Sialkot to meet its business community. “The inauguration of Air Sial is just an excuse [for the visit],” the premier said in his address after Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar spoke about the state of Pakistan’s economy.
The PM called Sialkot’s business community the “most vibrant” one in the country. “First you established this [private] airport. No one has done this in such limited resources,” he said, congratulating the business community on launching the Air Sial initiative. The launch of Air Sial, the PM said, is beneficial for all.
Federal Minister for Industries and Production Hammad Azhar, while addressing the business community, lauded the prime minister for saving the economy. “While economies worldwide are crashing amid COVID-19, our economy is prospering,” he claimed.
He said the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) government introduced schemes and packages to help uplift the economy, including the payroll financing scheme and construction packages and deferment of payments for small businesses.
The minister maintained that a 22 per cent increase in the sale of cement was recorded from July to October, 2020. He further added that automobile and pharmaceutical sales had also increased.
Hammad Azhar further stated that a business-friendly government, current exchange rate and industrial packages would help strengthen the country’s economy further.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has assured that the youth will be encouraged and fully supported to start their small and medium enterprises (SMEs).
The Prime Minister was addressing a ceremony in Sialkot on Wednesday in connection with cheque distribution amongst the successful applicants of Kamyaab Jawan programme.
Imran Khan said more loans will be provided to the youth in the days to come so that they could start their businesses. This, he said, will create job opportunities.
The Prime Minister said the focus of the present government is to bolster exports and for this purpose the industrial sector will be fully backed. He assured the business community that an industrial zone will be established on one thousand acres of land in Sialkot to facilitate industrial production.
Imran Khan said this is an era of science and technology and the present government is especially focusing on its promotion to provide a better future to our coming generations.
Referring to the development plan worth Rs17 billion for Sialkot, he said the people of the city will see visible change in their lives through this package. He said, “We are now also bringing master plans for all the cities to address the issues of water, sewerage and sanitation.”
The premier hailed the Ehsaas programme as being a significant initiative launched to tackle poverty in Pakistan. He reiterated the country’s need to increase its exports and decrease imports in order to solve the problem of foreign reserves.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan has welcomed US President-elect Joe Biden’s declared intent of a policy targeting dirty money.
In a tweet on Wednesday, the Prime Minister said that developing countries are being impoverished by their corrupt elites who launder money to richer countries and offshore tax havens. He also shared an article written by Biden along with his tweet.
Declaring his intentions in the Foreign Policy magazine, Biden said that he would “lead efforts internationally to bring transparency to the global financial system”.
“I will lead efforts internationally to bring transparency to the global financial system, go after illicit tax havens, seize stolen assets, and make it more difficult for leaders who steal from their people to hide behind anonymous front companies,” he wrote.
He further said that one of his chief goals was to “rally our allies to combat corruption and kleptocracy, and to hold systems of authoritarian capitalism accountable for greater transparency and participation in a rules-based system.”
Earlier in September, the Prime Minister made an impassioned appeal to the international community to take decisive action and work to prevent white collar criminals from bleeding developing countries dry.
In an address to the United Nations International Financial Accountability, Transparency and Integrity (FACTI), the PM had said countries that such criminals view as “tax havens” must return wealth looted from developed countries.
“We welcome the interim report of the FACTI panel. The figures […] mentioned in the report are staggering,” said the Premier. He said that $1tn is taken out each year “by these white-collar criminals”. “$20-40 billion is in the form of bribes received by these corrupt white-collar criminals,” he added. He has also called upon the international community to “adopt decisive actions”, before proceeding to list 9 recommendations. – TLTP