President Zardari grateful to China for unwavering support to Pakistan in various fields

Islamabad: Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari has expressed gratitude to China for its unwavering support to Pakistan in various fields.

Addressing the Joint Session of the Parliament, the President reiterated the country’s steadfast commitment to collaborating with it to advance shared goals of fostering regional peace, promoting connectivity, and stability, including the completion of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC).

“We will not allow hostile elements to jeopardize this vital project or undermine the strong bond between our two nations, and will take all necessary measures to ensure the security of our Chinese brothers and sisters,” he maintained.

President Zardari thanked the friendly countries, particularly China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Turkiye, and Qatar for supporting Pakistan in difficult times.

Stressing for turning a new page and making a fresh start, called for a meaningful dialogue, parliamentary consensus and fostering an atmosphere of mutual respect and political reconciliation to do away with the polarisation and overcome the challenges pervading the country.

“In my considered view, it is time to turn a new page… The challenges we face are not impossible to overcome. They just require the fundamentals of a meaningful dialogue and parliamentary consensus… We can effectively tackle our challenges and foster an atmosphere of mutual respect and political reconciliation,” the President added.

Chaired by National Assembly Speaker Sardar Ayaz Sadiq, the joint sitting was attended by members of the National Assembly and Senate, while in the galleries were provincial chief ministers and legislators, diplomats, and representatives from political parties.

The President’s address was in pursuance of Article 56 (3) of the Constitution which marked the beginning of the first parliamentary year, following the general elections.

The address encompassed major national and international matters, and challenges from economy, poverty, social welfare, women empowerment and foreign policy as well as climate change.

Calling for resetting the political atmosphere with “more light than heat”, the President emphasised reforms to promote good governance and turn challenges into opportunities.

President Zardari said that by embracing the visions of the great leaders Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, Shaheed Zulfikar Ali Bhutto, and Shaheed Mohtarma Benazir Bhutto, “we can effectively tackle challenges and foster an atmosphere of mutual respect and political reconciliation.”

The president emphasised that in order to align the country with the 21st Century requirements, it was imperative to move forward on reforms with good governance for the provision of optimal social entitlements to the citizens.

He said besides working on economic reforms, spurring jobs, reducing inflation and expanding the tax net, the Federal Government should also promote positive working relationships and effective coordination, within the constitutional framework, with the provinces. “This is absolutely essential for promoting an inclusive national development agenda and rolling out policies that execute tangible action on the ground,” he underlined.

President Zardari stressed the government to intensify its efforts for attracting foreign direct investment, implementing comprehensive ease-of-doing-business reforms and simplifying the existing regulations to provide an enabling environment to both foreign and domestic investors.

At the same time, he also emphasised to diversify exports, enhance the competitiveness of domestic products in global markets, introduce value addition, and venture into new international markets. Similarly, the huge untapped potential in the agriculture, marine life, information technology and textile sectors should also be exploited to earn foreign exchange, he added.

Commending the establishment of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), he said it was a step forward in the right direction as it was aimed at attracting and facilitating investments in key sectors. As regards climate change impacts, the President said Pakistan had been serially devastated by different impacts of climate change, especially in the shape of catastrophic floods in 2022.

“We urgently need to invest in climate-friendly and climate-resilient infrastructure to mitigate the rapidly compounding risks of climate change.”

Speaking about the importance of the provision of primary & secondary education, President Zardari pointed out that as a massive number of children were out of school, all the provincial governments should focus their energy on transformative reforms in the education sector.

He also highlighted the urgent need of rebuilding and scaled-up expansion in the health sector, saying that regular investments in the primary and secondary health infrastructure, as well as human resources, were needed to ensure that every citizen had access to quality healthcare services and that no one lacked medical care.