Prime Minister Imran Khan Friday performed the ground-breaking of a 100-million-dollar automobile manufacturing and assembly unit which, besides the regular models, would also produce electric vehicles.
Addressing the ceremony here, the prime minister said China is Pakistan’s biggest ally in industrialisation which is supporting the country in achieving its goals of economic prosperity through industrial development. He said Pakistan can learn a great deal from China as its economic model best suits the country. “China developed its industry, established economic trade zones and attracted foreign investment to generate wealth, which it ultimately spent on poverty alleviation,” he said. “China brought its population of 700 million out of poverty in around 35 years, which had no other example in the world. Pakistan is also pursuing a similar vision, in which the real development was the uplift of the poor,” he added.
Imran Khan said it is his desire that the Chinese industry is re-located to Pakistan, from where the products can further be exported. He regretted that over the past years, Pakistan could not manage to increase its exports and the present government was now in consultation with the Chinese government on ways to enhance the exports.
He said Pakistan was also working with China in agriculture, particularly seed development and productivity increase, and mentioned that in the next phase of China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), the agriculture sector would figure prominently.
Referring to the contract for manufacturing of vehicles in Pakistan, the prime minister said the ripple effects of foreign direct investment would reach out to the connected industries, and generate employment. He said Pakistan would continue to carry out joint ventures with the Chinese companies in future in all areas.
Imran Khan said in its first year of power, the government had to fully focus on revival and recovery of the national economy, while in the second year it had to take up the challenge of Covid-19 pandemic. The way the government navigated through the coronavirus crisis was duly acknowledged by the World Health Organisation (WHO).
He said 2021 would be the year of economic growth, wherein Pakistan would flourish while benefiting from its experiences in confronting various challenges. The construction and textile industries in the country were booming, despite the negative impact of the pandemic. Pakistan was the only country in the Sub-continent that recovered rapidly from the impact of coronavirus, he added.
The prime minister said the new year would witness business-friendly policies and incentives for industries for wealth creation and ending of poverty. Imran Khan said he had major targets. “The first one was the universal health coverage – providing health insurance to each and every household, something which even the United States of America could not provide. The second was to identify the impoverished areas through the use of Information Technology, and then with the help of Ehsaas Programme and NGOs (non-governmental organisations), the government would ensure that there was no person in the country, afflicted with hunger or food insecurity,” he said.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan on Friday said his New Year resolutions are provision of universal health coverage to all citizens and launch of a nationwide project to check hunger. “My New Year resolution for 2021 is to complete two projects. One, universal health coverage to all our citizens. Two, we will start our most ambitious nationwide project ‘Koi Bhuka Na Soyay’ (No one should sleep hungry in Pakistan),” he said in a series of tweets.
The prime minister said by the end of the year, these two projects will “move us closer to our goal of making Pakistan a welfare state”. He said universal health coverage had already been launched in Khyber Pukhtunkhwa and expressed hope that it would soon be replicated in Punjab and Gilgit-Baltistan. He said though 2020 was a tough year for Pakistan and for the people across the world because of Covid-19, however the government managed it in best manner.
