PRIME Minister Shehbaz Sharif has taken pride that Pakistan was making rapid progress on economic, foreign relations and military fronts.
In an interaction with Overseas Pakistanis at Pakistan High Commission in London, he observed that Pakistan has regained dignity and respect in the comity of nations as a result of sincerity, hard work and team efforts. The PM said Pakistan can overcome every difficulty and make progress with cooperation, consultations, sincerity, persistent efforts and unity.
What the Prime Minister said was not rhetoric but a reality, which is also being acknowledged by the outside world and was reflected in some of the recent developments including the US visit of Shehbaz Sharif where a historic meeting took place with American President Donald Trump besides fruitful interaction with heads of other delegates. There can be no two opinions that Pakistan’s military strength and its ability to safeguard its core interests were highlighted during conflict with India and a series of positive developments at regional and global levels raised the country’s diplomatic standing. Pakistan’s intensified engagement with the United States to the disadvantage of rival India and defence pact with Saudi Arabia are highlights of the successes achieved on the diplomatic fronts. The fuller impact of these two transformative developments is expected to become clear in coming months, which will also be a test for the country’s ability to turn them as a springboard to improve its otherwise not so good economy. The Prime Minister and his team are surely working hard to make an economic turn around and there are some encouraging indicators but the situation is far from satisfactory and the challenges posed by internal bickering and terrorist threats make the path risky. There are no doubts that some friendly countries, especially China, Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE), Azerbaijan, Turkiye and lately the United States have demonstrated their keen interest to make substantial investment in different sectors of Pakistan’s economy. Pakistan and China have formally launched Phase-II of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), which will not only help modernize the country’s infrastructure further in the next ten years but also boost employment and economic opportunities. The new phase focuses on the modernization of Pakistan’s agriculture, expansion of industrial cooperation and creation of technology partnership, sparking confidence of genuine and meaningful progress on these fronts, enabling the country to become a more advanced economy. In another encouraging development, Port Qasim has been recognized by the World Bank as the 9th most improved container port globally, based on its Container Port Performance Index (CPPI) for 2024. The award highlights significant progress in efficiency from 2020 to 2024, including reduced cargo dwell times and enhanced berth operations, which are a result of government-led reforms and modernization efforts at the port. This together with efforts being made to make Gwadar a port of choice for regional countries will surely augment efforts to make Pakistan a regional hub for trade and investment. In a synchronized move, Pakistan has offered free of cost land to Turkiye for establishment of an export processing zone in Karachi. Meanwhile, a high-level 15-member business delegation from the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia is scheduled to arrive in Pakistan on October 5, signaling a renewed push for private-sector investment and business-to-business partnerships across critical sectors of the economy. These moves are the outcome of the sustained efforts by the relevant ministries and guidelines of the Special Investment Facilitation Council However, it is all the more important to draw up a long term strategy to address recurrent challenges in the way of investment and economic progress. There is a need to harmonize governmental policies, reduce the cost of doing business in the real sense of the word and improve the political and security environment to boost confidence of the potential investors.
