DM Monitoring
ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday directed the authorities concerned to take all possible measures to provide land; electricity and gas connections; and tax incentives to attract more and more Chinese companies to invest in Pakistan and populate the Special Economic Zones (SEZs).
“Pakistan needs investment to accelerate industrialization,” the Prime Minister said while chairing a meeting on facilitating the Chinese investors in SEZs.
“It is critical to create maximum employment opportunities for our growing population, 65% of which is under the age of 35”, he added.
Earlier, the Prime Minister was briefed that out of the total of 27 SEZs in the country, work on five SEZs including Dhabeji in Sindh, Rashakai in KPK, Bostan in Balochistan, Allama Iqbal Industrial City in Punjab, and Gwadar in Balochistan was in full swing.
An effective one window operation facility was being set up at each of these SEZs along with a Facilitation Center at China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Authority to resolve all issues of the potential Chinese investors under one roof, he was told.
The meeting was attended by Chinese Ambassador to Pakistan Nong Rong, Federal Ministers Shaukat Tarin, Makhdoom Khusro Bakhtiar, Asad Umar, Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood, Special Assistant to PM on CPEC Affairs Khalid Mansoor and senior officers concerned.Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan Monday said that being rich with huge potential, the minerals sector offered good returns for investment and could also contribute to overall economic growth of the country.
The prime minister, chairing a high level meeting regarding mineral development framework here, emphasized that coordinated efforts between the federation and provinces were required to accelerate the minerals development.
The prime minister directed that a focal person be appointed at the earliest to act as a bridge between the federal and provincial governments and supervise implementation of minerals’ development framework.
He said that international models be studied for lessons and capacity building of indigenous human resource to be employed for minerals’ development.
The prime minister directed that goals and targets for the mineral development framework be completed within stipulated timelines.
Earlier, federal secretary petroleum briefed the meeting about Strategic Plan for Mineral Development.
It was informed that presently the minerals’ sector contributed less than 1% to the GDP and implementation of the strategic plan would enhance share of minerals to 10% of GDP over the next 15 years.
The plan consists of harmonizing federal and provincial efforts, technical outreach, database development, fiscal incentives, training indigenous human resource and legal framework. The strategic plan is further categorized into short, medium and long term targets.
The meeting was attended by federal ministers Shaukat Fayaz Tarin, Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Asad Umar, Commerce Advisor Abdul Razaq Dawood, SAPM Dr. Shahbaz Gill, DG FWO and senior federal and provincial officers.
