Chairman of Pakistan People’s Party and Foreign Minister Bilawal Bhutto Zardari on Saturday said that the progress of the country is impossible without facilitating the business community, as the economic stability cannot be established without the promotion of trade.
While referring to the former President Asif Ali Zardari’s tenure, he said that no economic policy was formulated without consulting the business community.
Addressing the foundation stone laying ceremony of FPCCI Tower and annexe at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry House, he said that the effective economic diplomacy can contribute to sustained economic growth, stabilize self-sustaining growth trajectory, and expand commerce.
Bilawal said that the global economic landscape is constantly evolving. “I have always advocated that businessmen and women possess unique qualities that make them effective ambassadors in certain contexts.
Their expertise in international trade, commerce and business enables them to bridge gaps between nations and foster economic cooperation,” he added.
The PPP Chairman said that he believes that business people can find their own ways to connect with each other and form strong economic partnerships, promoting cross border investments which can sustain geopolitical shocks, adding that as the Foreign Minister, during his overseas visits, he made efforts to protect and promote entrepreneurs business and their integration into global value chain.
“In Iraq, we signed an MoU between the FPCCI and its Iraqi counterpart and established the Business Council. You should all benefit from these arrangements,” he added.
The Foreign Minister said that he was happy to note that the Ministry of Foreign Affairs is making its utmost efforts to facilitate the businesses and resolve their concerns, adding that to address delays in attestations of documents, businessmen have now been allocated exclusive time slots at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and at our Camp offices.
“I’m confident that our collective efforts would help us realize the dream of transforming Pakistan into an economic powerhouse,” he hoped.
Appreciating the Public Private Partnership formula introduced in Sindh province, the PPP Chairman said that the projects under PPP-mode have resulted in improvement in education, health and infrastructure sectors.
He said that enhancing governance and transparency has been the pursuit of the public-private partnership model in Sindh, and the PPP government’s efforts within the domain of public private partnership has been internationally recognized, adding that the Economist magazine ranked Sindh’s PPP mode projects as sixth in its list of the best ongoing projects in Asia.
Bilawal said that there’s a lot more that we can achieve together if the government partners with the private sector. “Even to solve the problems of a big city like Karachi, we have to work together,” he added.
