F.P. Report
PESHAWAR: KP Minister Finance Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra has said that the state and people of China hold a very special place in the heart of every Pakistani, and the bonds of our friendship are deep and irreversible.
The KP Finance Minister said this in his key address at the 2019 Shanghai Cooperation Organization (SCO) Heads of Region Meeting in southwest China’s Chongqing City. Taimur Jhagra was leading Pakistani delegation in the Heads of Region meeting of SCO including Baluchistan Revenue Minister Saleem Ahmad, Mamoon Tarar and Faisal Cheema, MPAs from Punjab.
Pakistani delegates and more than 130 overseas delegates from member states of Pakistan, China, Kazakhstan, Kyrgyzstan, Russia, Tajikistan, Uzbekistan and India, and observer states of Afghanistan, Belarus, Iran, and Mongolia participated in the meeting.
Theme of the meeting was” “Upholding Openness and Inclusiveness for New Opportunities of the SCO Regional Cooperation”.
In his speech KP Minister for Finance Taimur Saleem Jhagra said this friendship is cemented in the Belt and Road Initiative, of which the China Pakistan Economic Corridor is a key part. Our Prime Minister was here only last month, and we look forward to many bilateral and multilateral exchanges where we can deepen our cooperation.
Highlighting the opportunities in Pakistan the minister said our country is on a path of change today and it invites SCO to explore opportunities available across the country.
The province of Sindh contains the economic heart of the country, the bustling metropolis of Karachi. The vast province of Balochistan holds significant natural resources whose exploration its government is willing to facilitate, and the under-development Gwadar Port, which can serve as a gateway for SCO countries to the waters of the Arabian Sea. Punjab, if it were a country, with 110 million people would be the 12th largest country in the world. It is a massive consumer market, Pakistan’s bread basket, and its hub of industry. Lahore is Pakistan’s cultural heart, and one of the most beautiful and historic cities of the world, he added.
He said the Province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, in the landlocked north-western corner of Pakistan, is aspiring to champion change faster than any other part of the country. We have the most stable government; we have ever had in the last seventy years. Our government is trying to transform governance, institutions and most importantly our economy. He said that Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, like the rest of Pakistan, is open for business.
Highlighting the sectors with significant scope the minister said hydropower, where we have the potential to generate over 30,000 megawatts of electricity. Mines and minerals, where, with significant resources, our province is now keen to attract major international investment.
Tourism, where with its natural beauty, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa could be a magnet for tourists from the region, and where our government is in the process of developing and upgrading up to 20 tourist destinations over the next five years, with significant opportunities for investment, he concluded.
