Federation, provinces on one page for development of Pakistan: Tarar

Islamabad: Minister for Information, Broadcasting, National Heritage and Culture, Attaullah Tarar stated on Saturday that the meeting of Special Investment Facilitation Council had given a message of unity as federation and provinces were on one page on the issue of development of the country.

Speaking to the media after the SIFC meeting, he said it was serious forum and its meeting was held in a cordial atmosphere. He said open discussion was held over national economy, attracting investment and public private partnership.

Tarar said he was grateful to all Chief Ministers for not only attending the meeting but also giving their input. He said this forum will move forward with the input of all including the chief ministers of the four provinces.

The minister also congratulated all the provincial governments on meaningful meeting of SIFC. Investment will be promoted through SIFC forum both at Federal and provincial level. He said that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had issued directives for establishment of six desks to promote investment and trade through SIFC which was the lifeline of the country’s economy.

The special desks will be established for United Arab Emirates, Saudi Arabia, China, Qatar, European Union and United States of America. He said all the chief ministers lauded the contribution of SIFC in promotion of investment and trade. Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa has also assured cooperation, he remarked.

“The prime minister has made it clear that we do not want aid or loans, our focus will be on investment and trade,” the minister maintained. He said that meetings of SIFC Executive Committee will be held more frequently and it will be empowered to make decisions. He remarked that federation and provinces were on one page on issue of national development.

To a question, Tarar said he had a conversation with chief minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in a cordial atmosphere. He said that in politics, doors for talks and consultation were kept open and this was a good omen.

To another question, he said that on privatization of PIA he said substantial development had been done. He said that capacity building of ministries will be done and consultants will be hired for this purpose. He said that SIFC had played an important role in investment agreements with friendly countries.

He said that friendly countries had shared interests with Pakistan, that is why they had always cooperated with Pakistan. Tarar said all financial indicators were positive and allocations were being made by friendly countries. He said inflation had come down from 37 pc to 17 per cent and its trickle down effects were reaching the masses. He hoped that inflation will come down further in the coming days.