President Xi Jinping announced to invest billions of dollars when no one was ready to spare a single dollar in Pakistan: Ahsan Iqbal

Lahore: Pakistani Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal has said that when no one was ready to invest a single dollar in Pakistan, Chinese President Xi Jinping signed the agreements worth US $ 46 billion as part of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

In a meeting with the business community here at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)’s offices, Iqbal maintained that the CPEC had since grown manifold and the investment had now crossed $ 62 billion mark.

“China is a friend who always stands with us. When no one was ready to invest a single dollar, the Chinese President announced to invest billions of dollars in Pakistan,” he acknowledged.

Iqbal mentioned that Pakistan got a rare opportunity in the shape of CPEC. “We need to grab this opportunity and move ahead,” he added.

The minister announced that the government was working to reshape economy from import substitutions to export oriented.

He stressed that the only way for development was to enable the private sector and remove all bottlenecks coming in the way, asserting that private sector should take the driving seat to move the economy forward.

Ahsan Iqbal underscored that the private sector should be given opportunities to make Made in Pakistan a standard brand worldwide and increase the national exports.

He informed that in 1960s, exports of Pakistan were US $ 200 million the combined exports of South Korea, Malaysia and Thailand were the same. “Today exports of South Korea are over US $ 600 billion dollars, Malaysis US $ 300 billion and Thailand’s exports are over US $ 267 billion while we have reached only US $ 30 billion during this period,” he explained and added that the exports of Turkey had increased from US $50 billion in year 2000 to US $ 288 billion today.

The federal minister emphasized that all developed countries had made exports-led growth their first priority. He agreed with LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir that political stability was must for economic development.

He regretted that Pakistan had 350 universities and more than 3000-kilomegtres motorways but, “unfortunately our speed of growth is very slow comparatively to the other countries like Vietnam, Malaysia, Thailand, Singapore and Bangladesh.”

In his welcome address, LCCI President Mian Nauman Kabir said that an economic council should be established and all political parties and stakeholders should be included to set a right direction.

He proposed that the income of agriculture sector should be taxed while the government should have Currency swap agreements with China, Iran and Russia. He said that the business community should be given representation in the government institutions.

Mian Nauman Kabir observed that the CPEC had entered into second phase with focus on industrial cooperation, trade, agriculture and socio-economic development.

He hoped that this phase would achieve its objectives of accelerating the socio-economic development all across Pakistan through engagement in various fields ranging from agricultural growth to expansion of tourism industry and enhancing technical educational and healthcare facilities besides joint ventures between China and Pakistan to counter especially the climate change threat.

He said that a considerable delay had been observed in the completion of Special Economic Zones under the CPEC. It is quite obvious that once the Special Economic Zones under the CPEC are fully operational, they will give rise to the demand of trained manpower.

He pointed out that technology transfer was one aspect of economic development that had always eluded Pakistan. “The entire globe had witnessed the economic development achieved by China during the last couple of decades. China improved their technological base with their own resources and experts that led them to become very competitive in international market,” he added.

The LCCI president noted that the present situation was all set to engage Chinese and other foreign companies with local firms for ensuring knowledge and technology transfer, especially in the industrial and agro-processing sectors.