ISLAMABAD: Federal Finance Minister Ishaq Dar has vowed to curb any attempt of smuggling currency and gold and take action taken against those involved in forex and bullion smuggling, which is detrimental to the interests of Pakistan.
He made these remarks while chairing a meeting, which was attended by Secretary Interior, Secretary Finance, State Bank of Pakistan deputy governor, FIA DG, Federal Board of Revenue chairman, Intelligence Bureau’s Joint-Director and other senior officers concerned.
Dar directed to take strict measures immediately against criminal elements involved in the smuggling of gold and currency and take them to task as per the country’s law.
He said that action will also be taken against those who are behind this illegal practice. He directed FIA, IB, Custom Intelligence and State bank of Pakistan to keep strict vigilance in this regard and all airports and other entry points should be kept under strict surveillance to curb this menace of currency and bullion smuggling. He again dispelled the rumours about the demonization of Rs5000 currency notes and withdrawal of Rs 40,000 prize bonds, freezing of lockers which are being spread by the vested interest to harm the economy of the country. He further said that as clarified earlier, there is no such proposal under consideration of the government.
Federal minister for finance also chaired a meeting here at the Finance Division with the members of the civil society to discuss Open Government Partnership initiative. Secretary EAD, Tariq Bajwa said that the first meeting will be a curtain raiser where all the participants together discuss the core principals of the Open Government partnership; accountability, citizen participation, technology and innovation and transparency. The participants will identify barriers and solutions to open government in their areas, with the conversation continuing till we are able to develop a consensus on how to move forward, explore future course of action with timelines to ensure that solutions could be turned into proposed Action Plan commitments for government. These steps will ideally be ambitious, specific time-bound, action oriented and measureable.
Welcoming all the participants in the first discussion on the Open Government Partnership initiative, the finance minister said the government of Pakistan is committed to the principals of open government, accountability and transparency.
The minister also told the participants that Pakistan is also considering accession to OECD convention on combating bribery which focuses on the supply side of bribery. Recently, Pakistan has also become a signatory to the OECD Multilateral Convention on Mutual Administrative Assistance in Tax matters. It demonstrates Pakistan’s strong commitment to adopt international best practices in the field of tax matters and the multilateral fight against tax evasion through mutual and spontaneous exchange of information. The participants from the civil society, who belonged to various organizations from different walks of life, appreciated the initiative taken by the government to join in multilateral conventions that can help in improving the governance structure.
They showed deep interest in cooperating with the government in developing a national action plan to help her in achieving the objectives of this initiative.
The Open Government Partnership (OGP) has grown from eight founding governments to 70. Each OGP government partners with civil society to promote transparency, empower citizens, fight corruption, and harness new technologies to improve governance. OGP has become a global movement of reformers working to make government more effective and responsive to its citizens.
