PM urges Pak expats to invest in Pakistan

PM urges Pak expats to invest in Pakistan

Updated at: 1746 PST, Wednesday, December 02, 2009 FRANKFURT: Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilani on Wednesday invited the Pakistani community in Germany to help strengthen Pakistan’s economy by making investments in the fields of energy, industry, housing and agriculture. Addressing the Pakistani community here, the Prime Minister stressed “more investments” by overseas Pakistanis to support the country in moving forward towards a stable economy. Gilani said the government would encourage the Pakistani community abroad to invest in energy and industries particularly, as these sectors were facing crisis. He vowed to provide all possible incentives to such investors. He said the expatriate businessmen could not only help the country earn foreign exchange, but also play the role of a bridge in providing access to Pakistani products to the German and European Union markets. He appreciated the contribution of Pakistani community in strengthening relations with Germany, a country that had significant place in world community in terms of history, culture and politics. He said with the efforts of 70,000 Pakistanis residing in Germany, there was a great increase in foreign remittances increasing upto 100.71 million dollar during 2008-09. He appreciated that the Pakistan community in Germany donated funds worth 0.5 million dollars for earthquake victims and 19,000 dollar for Swat affected people. He said the government was trying its best to arrange Pakistan International Airlines’ connecting flight from Frankfurt to other cities. Gilani said today Pakistan was confronting with several issues including national security, economy and social welfare and stressed the need to improve them for a smooth journey to development and prosperity. He said the government was paying due attention on resolving these issues and would utilize all resources in this regard. He mentioned the successful military operations carried out in Swat and Malakand against terrorists and said the operation in South Waziristan was also proceeding with success. He said entire nation stood behind the government in its move to eradicate militants. He paid rich tributes to the residents of Malakand who left their homes for the country’s sake and appreciated the expatriate Pakistani community for their generous donations for PM’s Fund for Swat and Malakand. “These handful of coward and masked men who are playing in the hands of Pakistan’s enemies cannot fight our brave soldiers,” he said. He said Pakistan would continue efforts for a stable and strong Afghanistan and hope that allied forces would take steps for the betterment of war-ridden country. Gilani said the government was following the path of confidence-building and unity and was resolving the national issues through mutual consultation with all major political parties of the country. “We are trying to change the culture of national politics...With an independent judiciary and civil society, Pakistan is moving forward as a democratic country,” he said. He mentioned several steps taken for the uplift of masses including increase in salaries of government staffers, expansion in agriculture loans, initiation of Benazir Income Support Programme and introduction of policies on petroleum, education and textile. Gilani said provision of internal self-governance to Gilgit-Baltistan and the recent announcement of Aghaz-e-Huqooq-e-Balochistan was an important step to include country’s smaller areas into national mainstream. He said in economic sector, he was confident to say that the country’s all macro economic indicators were moving in positive direction, adding that the situation was appreciated by World Bank, IMF and Asian Development Bank. Gilani said following the policy of self-reliance, the government for the first time had initiated Pakistan Remittance Initiative to encourage expatriate Pakistanis for foreign exchange transmissions. He said the National Investment Trust had been directed to work on opening new avenues for the overseas Pakistanis for investment in their own country. The Prime Minister said parliament was supreme and there was no issue of power between the president and prime minister. He said the government was taking onboard all major political parties on the issues of national importance. He said He said the government was also seriously considering the longstanding demand of expats for casting the vote during election.