Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Ahsan Iqbal said that Pakistan has assumed new identity due to economic turnaround during the last three years under the leadership of Nawaz Sharif.
Speaking as chief guest at China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) Awareness Seminar organised by World Congress of Overseas Pakistanis (WCOP) in London, he said, “Today, we live in the world of brands and every country is a brand.” He said, “The way our people project Pakistan, becomes its identity and brand.
Before we seek development as our goal, we need to reset our thinking and mental model based on self belief and positive thinking about our country”, said a press release issued on Tuesday.
He said, with the economic turnaround and unprecedented foreign direct investment of $46 billion under CPEC, Pakistan has already assumed a new positive identity and brand in the eyes of the world.
The international media that used to label Pakistan as the most dangerous country in the world is now calling it the next emerging economy of Asia.”
Giving economic overview of the country, he said, “In the last three years, the economy has seen a steady growth from 2.5pc in 2013 to 4.8pc last year, which is the highest growth rate in the last eight years.
“Our foreign reserves with US$ 24 billion are at the highest in the history of Pakistan. This economic take off has changed the perception of the world about Pakistan. The same Moody’s that downgraded the US has upgraded the credit rating of Pakistan.”
Talking about the performance of the government, he said, “When, we came into power we had a manifesto of 4 Es – Economy, Energy, Extremism and Education.”
The government presented the Vision 2025 for the socio-economic development of Pakistan and has delivered on all the four key areas. As a result, the economy has taken off.
Similarly, the government has significantly eradicated extremism and terrorism due to which peace has been restored in Pakistan, especially in Karachi.
“Pakistan is seeing ever largest investment of $35 billion under CPEC in energy sector which will not only meet our energy needs but also expedite GDP growth and create new job opportunities for our youth,” he added.
Ahsan Iqbal said, “Education is the fourth key priority of current government. Despite education being a provincial subject after the 18th Amendment, the federal government still wants to help provinces to improve the standard of education, and for this purpose, a National Curriculum Council has been set up to upgrade the curriculum.
Reform of examination boards and Teachers Training Programme are the other two initiatives of the federal government for complete overhaul of the education system of Pakistan to bring about creativity and innovation in our academic institutions.
Additionally, the federal government has increased allocation of funds for Higher Education Commission from Rs 100 billion to Rs 215 billion in last three years. Besides, every district will have a university campus in three years.
During the US visit of the prime minister, Pakistan-US Knowledge Corridor initiative was launched and it was agreed that 10,000 Pakistani PhDs would be produced in leading US universities in next ten years.
The energy projects, infrastructure projects and industrial zones along the Western and Eastern Routes would promote connectivity and bring about unprecedented economic growth.”
The minister thanked the WCOP for arranging the seminar and the community for attending in large numbers.
in 2025, Bangladesh economy, that is, total GDP will be more Pakistan GDP. Ahsan should do some research on this issue. All the leading indicators, including GDP growth rate, Exports, Foreign Direct Investments etc. Bangladeshis outside Bangladesh are sending more money than Pakistanis outside Pakistan. There are highly qualified Pakistani economists who can come to conclusion that Bangladesh Economy will be bigger than Pakistan Economy by the year 2025
Lol. People also said that world will be destroyed in 2012 but then bright-minded people like you sold everything for that day so that they could die but the next day they looked like idiots. Thats what you look like now.
Instead of making a blank statement do some research. Bangladesh have 40 billion foreign exchange reserves and Pakistan have around 23 billion foreign exchange reserves. Bangladesh defense expenditure is negligible and whereas Pakistan Defense expenditure is around 9 billion dollars. Bangladesh currency value is 77 taka per dollar whereas Pakistan currency is around 104 Rupee per dollar. Bangladesh GDP is around 240 billion dollar and growing at a rate of 6.5 percent annually whereas Pakistan Growth rate is around 4.5 percent and total GDP is 280 Billion dollars. Bangladesh is getting more foreign direct investment than Pakistan. Bangladesh is not ruled by army directly or indirectly whereas Pakistan is ruled by Army.
Good luck to you dude. What is important that you should ask is how much of that $40 billion sitting in Bangladesh foreign reserves will you get. If there nothing you can get from that 40 billion than my friend it ain't worth a damn. They can have 400 billion in the reserves but if you can't get a piece of the slice than it worth a damn.
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