ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said that Pakistan could not achieve economic stability due to political instability and inconsistent policies in the past.
“The developed countries ensured political stability before becoming economic giant, but unfortunately, we failed in this regard,” he said while addressing participants of a seminar on “Building for Tomorrow – Pakistan,” organised by the General Electric (GE) here.
The minister said that the dictatorial regimes were also unable to bring about any significant industrial growth. He pointed out that poor infrastructure and insufficient investment in energy and human resource were also main factors for economic instability.
He said that when the Pakistan Muslim League-N government took over the charge, Pakistan was confronting with energy dearth and terror attacks in some parts. But after three years, load shedding had been significantly decreased while security situation had also been improved in the entire country.
He said that the economic indicators were on positive trajectory while forex reserves had doubled. He expressed the confidence that the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would prove game changer. He also said that now Pakistan had drawn world attention for the investment.
Commenting on Vision 2025, he said that the government was trying to build a modern infrastructure for the economic uplift of Pakistan. He said that Central Asia and Afghanistan would also be connected for common development of the entire region. By putting together, the public, private sectors, academia and research, Pakistan would be among the top world economies by year 2025, he said.
Speaking on the occasion, Minister for Petroleum and Natural Resources Shahid Khaqan Abbasi said that sufficient gas was available for the industry, adding all the industrial sectors were being supplied gas. He said that a network of roads and motorways from Peshawar to Karachi was being laid for the benefit of people.
He said that all these projects should have been completed in the past. However, the government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif was fulfilling its promises and gas pipeline project would also be completed soon.
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