Pakistan to present 9-point economic agenda

Online

ISLAMABAD: Finance Affairs Adviser Shaukat Tareen has said that Pakistan will present nine-point economic agenda in the upcoming Friends of Pakistan meeting in Tokyo, while Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said no pre-condition will be accepted in return for foreign assistance.

Addressing a joint news conference on Monday, both the minister and the adviser said that Pakistan had suffered loss to the $35 billion during the last eight years and was sustaining continuously loss amounting to $8 billion every year in war against terrorism.

They said that even purchasers and cricket teams were fearful of coming to Pakistan what to speak of investors. Both Friends of Pakistan and the Donors Conferences were taking place on the same day in Tokyo while their objectives could be different from each other, they pointed out.

Tareen informed the media that only 550 units out of 2250 industrial units were functioning in the country. He said problems facing the country would be presented before the friendly countries, and remarked that bulks of Pakistan resources were being spent on the security matters and education and health could be affected this way.

The government was pursing comprehensive planning to upgrade the standard of life of common man, the adviser asserted. Survey of 16 poorest districts was being conducted across the country, he hinted. The technical training would be imparted to one member of every family under the Benazir Bhutto Support Programme, he said.

Adviser Tareen said the insurance policy to the extent of Rs 20000 would also be provided. He said the plan had been devised for development of agricultural and industrial sectors, adding 2.5 percent was being spent in the key sectors of education and health at present and the government wanted to raise it to five percent.

He said Pakistan would need $4 billion in the next two years in this respect. Minister Kaira said that Pakistan stance on Jammu Kashmir was very clear and no one would be allowed to seek access to Dr Abdul Qadeer Khan. The government would make all out efforts to extend relief to poor masses in the next budget, he said. The special forces would be set up to counter terrorism, he announced.