Staff Reporter
Rawalpindi
The military’s media wing on Thursday issued a formal statement about the meeting held a day earlier between the army chief and some of Pakistan’s most powerful business tycoons.
According to Inter-Services Public Relations (ISPR), army chief Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa has reportedly told a group of businessmen that the country’s “improved internal security environment” has “created space for increased economic activity”.
Inter-Services Public Relations said Gen Bajwa had made the remarks while addressing the business community and the government’s economic team at the concluding session of a series of discussions and seminars titled ‘Interplay of economy and security’.
The event had been held at the Army Auditorium in Rawalpindi, ISPR said.
The chief of army staff briefed the business community and the government’s economic team over the improved security situation in the country, saying: “National security is intimately linked to the economy while prosperity is a function of a balance in security needs and economic growth.”
“Accessibility and responsiveness of the government economic team to the business community and the displayed understanding between public and private institutions is a good sign for the desired positive trajectory in economic activity,” Gen Bajwa told the audience.
The ISPR said that the seminars and discussions in question were held “in order to bring stakeholders on one platform to formulate recommendations for a synergistic way forward”.
The government’s economic team, on the other hand, had apprised the attendees about the initiatives and measures being taken by the government to facilitate business and stabilise the economy.
The businessmen assured that they would cooperate with the authorities to ensure that government policies are implemented and would “play their part” by paying taxes and investing in a “socially and economically responsible manner”. The press statement from the ISPR follows reports in the media that the businessmen in question had tabled their grievances with the government’s economic team in front of the army chief.
