PESHAWAR: Federal Minister for Defence Pervez Khattak said Prime Minister Imran Khan would lay the foundation stone for the Rashakai Economic Zone on November 21 that would change the fate of region. “Rashakai Economic Zone (REZ) is part of the China Pakistan Economic Corridor cluster of projects and will go a long way towards fetching massive investment to the province and creating a large number of jobs,” he said while talking to the media after addressing different functions in his hometown of Nowshera. Minister for Labour and Culture Shaukat Yousafzai, National Assembly Standing Committee on Natural Resources Chairman Dr Imran Khattak, Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf candidate for PK-63 by-poll, Mian Umar Kakakhel, Muttahida Labour Federation KP chapter president Muhammad Iqbal and others were present on the occasion. Pervez Khattak said a large number of industrial units would be set up at the Rashakai Economic Zone which would lead to industrialization and employment. He said the agreements he had signed during his tenure as a chief minister would be implemented. Explaining his statement, the federal minister said the road from Chitral to Gilgit-Baltistan would provide us access to markets in China and Central Asian Republics and this make Peshawar once again a hub of trade. Pervez Khattak said the Circular Railways Project would connect Peshawar, Charsadda, Mardan, Swabi and Nowshera with one another and thus greatly benefit the people of these districts of the Peshawar Valley. He hoped the people of Nowshera would accord a warm welcome to the prime minister when he would be in the district for the ground-breaking of the Rashakai Economic Zone on the 21 of this month. The federal minister was critical of the opposition’s Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) and said the component parties of the 11-party alliance should realize the external challenges the country was facing. – Agencies