SIFC to attract foreign investment: PM

F.P. Report
ISLAMABAD: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar Friday said that an estimated foreign investment of US$60 to $70 billion was expected in the next three to five years under the government’s new initiative of Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC).
Besides, he said the government had also received pledges and promises of another similar amount of investment. “Now, we have to design and submit our projects as there is a huge appetite to invest in the country”, he said while talking to senior journalists and news anchors here.
Replying to a question, the prime minister said the government was considering various options to provide relief to the people. Citing the example of the $700 billion worth of Reko Dik gold and copper reserves, the prime minister said the country had huge potential of natural resources that would change fate of the people of Pakistan.
“We took the initiative of SIFC to realize this potential and we are going towards the right direction so far as the scientific methods and financial models are concerned,” he remarked. He said the SIFC was the whole of the government project and there was no hidden in it. “This is a transparent intervention that has already been initiated and has the overall potential of $5 to $6 trillion.
The prime minister highlighted that Pakistan had huge land that could be used for agriculture purpose and could serve half of the Asian population’s food requirements. He added that the country had also enough water to irrigate the barren land across the country. Likewise, he said IT, tourism and defence production had also huge potential that would be tapped for socio-economic development of the country.
PM Kakar maintained that although the core responsibility of the caretaker government was to facilitate elections across the country, in the meantime it would also try to improve the taxation mechanism and address other economic challenges. Replying to another query, the prime minister said economic migration was not a new phenomenon and people were leaving the country for a better future and they would also contribute to Pakistan’s economy in future. Therefore, he said, it should not be considered a brain drain.
Advising the media to propagate hope among the masses, he said there was no chance of a sudden collapse of the country’s social structure and all professionals, doctors, nurses, and the society overall were functioning at an absolutely normal pace. He said the government minutely looked into the problem of inflated electricity bills and would come up with a solution within next 48 hours.
To a question, he clarified that the Pakistan army, navy and air force were not using a single free unit of electricity and their bills were paid from the allocated financial budget. While employees of WAPDA were using free electricity units and their usage would be rationalized, especially of the higher grade officers some of them were getting huge quantity of free electricity, he added.
He said perception should not be that the government would take any strict measures causing difficulties for the people. He pointed out that the power sector had been a very challenging issue since the 1990s and the governments of that time signed agreements with independent power producers to overcome loadshedding which proved costly for consumers.
Over the years, he said, the generation and transmission system of electricity was flawed and the government had to deal with serious issues of line losses, power theft, high circular debt, use of expensive imported fuel and capacity payments to electricity companies. “These issues cannot be ignored by just closing eyes. We need to diagnose treatment for the disease,” he added. He made it clear that the government would fulfill its agreements with the international financial institutions.
Meanwhile, the Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar directed the customs authorities and law enforcement agencies to strictly curb the smuggling of sugar, petroleum products, urea, agricultural products and other items.
He was chairing a high level meeting for stopping smuggling in Pakistan. During the meeting, he was briefed on the situation of smuggling of different items across the country, especially in the border areas, and about the steps taken for stopping the menace.
The meeting was told that 10 additional check posts of law enforcement agencies were notified to curb smuggling in Balochistan. The prime minister instructed that an inter agency report should be prepared about the officers involved in smuggling in the province. He directed strong departmental action against the officers involved in smuggling in Balochistan and award of exemplary punishment to them.
He said the smuggling of petroleum products was reducing revenue and putting pressure on the country’s foreign exchange reserves. He said he would chair a weekly meeting to review the performance of institutions and to curb the menace of smuggling. He ordered that the border markets with Iran should be made more viable so that trade could be done with proper documents.
He said smuggling was causing a loss of billions of rupees to the national economy and it was critical to end the problem of smuggling. The PM was told that smuggling was reduced by 40 percent due to the untiring efforts of law enforcement institutions. He was apprised of the strategy of the law enforcement departments against smuggling.
Caretaker Federal Minister for Trade Gohar Ejaz, Minister for Interior Sarfraz Ahmed Bugti, Minister for Petroleum Muhammad Ali, Advisor to the PM Ahmed Cheema, federal secretaries, Federal Board of Revenue chairman and high level officers of law enforcement agencies attended the meeting. Provincial chief secretaries of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan and Inspector General of Police attended the meeting through video link.
Govt to continue to strengthen ties with Britain: High Commissioner of the United Kingdom Jane Marriott called on Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar and discussed matters of mutual interest.
The Prime Minister emphasized that Pakistan and the UK had longstanding relations and said that his government would continue to further strengthen these bilateral ties. He conveyed his good wishes to His Majesty King Charles III as well as to the UK leadership. The Prime Minister stressed the need to enhance cooperation between both countries in trade, investment, climate change, and education. The High Commissioner conveyed felicitations to the Prime Minister on behalf of the UK leadership and said that the UK would continue to extend all possible support to Pakistan during this phase of the democratic transition.
PM reaffirms commitment to further strengthen Pak-Iran ties: Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar, underscoring the close fraternal relations between Pakistan and Iran, reaffirmed the country’s strong commitment to further strengthen and deepen the bilateral ties.
The prime minister, in a meeting with Ambassador of Iran to Pakistan Reza Amiri Moghaddam, who called on him, stressed the need to focus on enhancing cooperation in the economic and security domains. He highlighted that the recent inauguration of Mand-Pishin border marketplace would not only contribute to the economic uplift of the border areas but also serve as a manifestation of the collective commitment to work for the betterment of the two peoples.
He noted that President Raisi’s policy of ‘Neighbourhood First’ was fully aligned with Pakistan’s vision for regional development and connectivity. The prime minister stressed the importance for both countries to leverage their unique geographical location to promote shared objectives of regional peace and prosperity through greater trade and enhanced regional connectivity. The Iranian ambassador said that Iran was keen to build on the recent positive trajectory of the bilateral relationship, especially in areas of economy, energy and security.