RIYADH, Saudi Arabia: Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that we are working to strengthen State institutions to curb corruption, adding that the basic thing that makes difference between a developed and a developing Country is corruption.
“Corruption makes any Country poor,” the prime minister said during a question-answer session at the three-day Future Investment Initiative Conference which began in Riyadh on Tuesday.
The prime minister said that the immediate concern for his government is to increase our exports as we have shortage of foreign reserves.
“We have been in power for 60 days, we have inherited two big deficits i.e. fiscal deficit and current account deficit,” he said.
Imran Khan said that we need to get more remittances through the banking channels because there are about eight to nine million Pakistanis who work abroad. “We need to bolster up the foreign exchange reserves,” he said.
Pakistan hoping to get loans from IMF & friendly Countries: Imran Khan
The premier said that right now, we also need loan to go through a difficult period of repaying our debts. He said that Pakistan is hoping to get loans from the friendly Countries as well as the International Monetary Fund (IMF) to meet the current financing gap.
In addition, he said that Pakistan is rich in natural resources, we are creating a feasible environment for investments in Pakistan. He said that One Window Operation is being set up for foreign investors.
“We have tourism and energy sector which offer vast potential for investment,” he said also adding that that laws will be made to help exporters.
Great to see Pakistan at the centre of conversation in an international investment conference. The @ImranKhanPTI sharing his views about the new governments economic vision and investment opportunities in Pakistan. pic.twitter.com/LNiVI5gJsC
— Asad Umar (@Asad_Umar) October 23, 2018
In reply to a question, the prime minister said that when we talk about ‘Naya Pakistan’ (New Pakistan), it is going back to the vision of the founding fathers of the Country. He said that ‘Naya Pakistan’ is actually the Pakistan it was meant to be.
“Pakistan was the only one of the two States made in the name of an ideology which was Islam,” he said.
Imran Khan said that what founding fathers of the Pakistan envisaged was a State based on the principles of the first Islamic State Madinah. However, he added, that sadly, some of those principles which include justice, meritocracy, and a welfare State where a State takes responsibility of the weaker section of the society and above all to educate its people, are more visible in Scandinavian Republics as compared to Pakistan.
