Zubair Qureshi Islamabad
President Dr Arif Alvi has said that the parliament, judiciary, the government and the business community needed to work in tandem to identify the issues faced by the nation and resolve them with commitment and efficiency to bring about political, economic and financial stability in the country.
The president expressed these views while talking to the heads and representatives of 54 chambers of commerce and industry from across the country, including the representatives of women’s chambers of commerce, small and medium chambers of commerce at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Wednesday.
The delegation also included APTMA, P@SHA, Pakistan Poultry Association, and the Stock Exchange, representatives of Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad, Sarhad and Rawalpindi chambers of commerce, and the pharmaceutical sector.
He said that all those voices who were predicting the derailment of the political and democratic process needed to be discouraged wholeheartedly. He said that democracy in Pakistan should be sustained and strengthened with each passing day.
Speaking on the occasion, the president said that Pakistan was facing an economic situation which necessitated the holding of general elections in agreement and consensus of all the political stakeholders to elect a fully representative government empowered and mandated to take critical and difficult decisions and provide solutions to the problems and issues faced by the nation on the political, economic and financial fronts.
The president said that signing the agreement with the IMF was an important decision which was likely to help the country resolve its financial and economic difficulties, and added that a representative government mandated by the people could sell the difficult decisions to the people of Pakistan.
The president termed political stability in the country as the basic and most vital element for creating financial and economic stability and stressed the need for all political stakeholders to promptly start negotiations and deliberations on setting out an agreed-upon date for holding general elections.
While replying to a question, the President appreciated the establishment for its intent to avoid involvement in political affairs and stressed upon the political forces to jointly grab this opportunity and resort to democratic means of resolving the issues faced by the nation and lead it toward progress and prosperity.
The president said that most of the country’s import bill comprised petroleum products used for energy production and transportation, adding that this cost could be substantially reduced by adopting an all-encompassing energy, water, and gas conservation strategy, which was implementable and could deliver results with the commitment and support of the business community.
