PM Imran Khan launches Pak-China Business Investment Forum

ISLAMABAD: Underscoring the need for industrialisation and enhancing exports, Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday said that wealth creation of a country was impossible without industrial development while exports increase supplemented such efforts.

The prime minister made these remarks while addressing the launching ceremony of the Pak-China Business and Investment Forum in Islamabad.

Speaking on the occasion, he regretted that during the 60s, Pakistan was moving towards industrialisation, but a nationalisation process choked the country’s progress.

Referring to China and Turkey, the prime minister observed that they made strides by enhancing their industrial and exports capabilities.

Turkey had overcome its trade deficit with an increase in exports which also raised its GDP, he added. In Pakistan, focus on industrialisation had never been made a priority in the past, said PM Imran.

The establishment of the forum would enhance ease of doing business between the Chinese and Pakistani companies, he added.

Talking about his government’s achievements, the PM said that they had provided incentives to the IT sector and within two years, its exports had been doubled.

He said the government took steps to stabilize the country’s economy, but unfortunately, the COVID-19 pandemic hit the globe.

Lauding the efforts of the National Command and Operation Center (NCOC) to contain the coronavirus, PM Imran said, “Pakistan coped with the coronavirus, while our neighbouring countries including India and Iran were badly affected with the pandemic.”

He said, “The Economist magazine in its report has ranked Pakistan as the top country that not only saved its people but also it's economy from the COVID-19.”

It was the good governance system which helped to steer Pakistan out of the challenge, said the premier. He expressed the confidence that in the second phase of CPEC, they would have to focus on agriculture productivity.

The prime minister said they would have to focus on the vertical development of the mega cities and learn and seek expertise from China that had saved its cultivable land with remarkable urban planning.

Chinese Ambassador Nong Rong said that CPEC would be a game-changer for Pakistan, bringing unprecedented progress and prosperity to the country.

Pak-China Business Investment Forum is formed in collaboration with the Pakistan Board of Investment (BOI) and All Pakistan Chinese Enterprises Association with the objectives to promote investment by the Chinese companies in Pakistan and enhance business to business industrial cooperation.