LAHORE: Governor Punjab Chaudhry Muhammad Sarwar has said that no country could achieve the target of economic growth without due participation of the private sector.
The government is committed cope with the economic challenges and making all-out efforts to overcome the economic ills. He was talking to LCCI President Ijaz A. Mumtaz here at the Governor’s House. During over one-hour long meeting, a number of issues came under discussion. LCCI Executive Committee Member Muhammad Haroon Arora was also present on the occasion.
The Governor Punjab informed the LCCI president about his initiatives of providing clean and safe drinking water to the school children of Punjab. He said that availability of clean drinking has become a serious issue in the recent years in Pakistan due to the presence of life threatening biological, chemical and dissolved solids in drinking water. “It is Prime Minister Mian Nawaz Sharif’s vision to provide Education and missing facilities in government schools to every child and Chief Minister Mian Shahbaz Sharif is implementing this vision in Punjab,” Governor Punjab added.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Ijaz A. Mumtaz lauded the Governor Punjab’s efforts for provision of clean drinking water to the masses. He also lauded the Governor Punjab’s efforts to get GSP Plus Status for Pakistan.
The LCCI President stressed the need to make target oriented efforts to attract the much-needed foreign investment in the country. He said that foreign investment in power sector would help government to get rid of the ongoing severe energy crisis that has jolted the basis industrial sector.
The LCCI President said that institutional fragility and the political instability were the major factors keeping the foreign investors away. There is a dire need to promote economic vitality by strengthening private sector as internal dynamism has faded away due to acute energy shortage, deteriorating law and order and political instability. The LCCI President said that rising risk perception about investing into Pakistan is hitting hard the entire economy and needs to be tackled through a new policy approach by involving Chambers of Commerce in the country.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that in the recent past, fall in Foreign Direct Investment has adversely affected the country’s economic growth. Government should adopt prudent measures to attract the foreign investment so that the country comes out of lopsided interest of foreign investors, he added. He said that the government would also have to give incentives to the local investors as if the local investors have the confidence, they would able to convince foreigners to invest in various sectors of the economy.
Ijaz A. Mumtaz said that government has to evolve a strategy for industrial expansion as from the last many years, the process of industrialization was almost stopped. The LCCI President said that infrastructure development is a regular feature in modern cities and the LCCI welcomes all such initiatives of the Punjab government but government should take all stakeholders into confidence on the infrastructure projects.
