Rs284b allocated for uplift schemes this fiscal year, CS tells junior diplomats

A group of 19 junior diplomats from 14 countries called on Sindh Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah on Friday at the Chief Minister House.

The group is attending the 27th Junior Diplomatic Course at the Foreign Service Academy, Islamabad. The course participants are from Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Iran, Madagascar, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine and Tunisia.

Welcoming the junior diplomats, the provincial chief secretary said the government was making efforts to make the investment environment more conducive for business opportunities. He said the provincial government was taking steps to improve the law and order situation.

The province of Sindh is rich in natural resources of coal, wind corridor, coastal belt and the agricultural system, he said, adding the provincial government was setting up many Special Economic Zones (SEZs).

“Also, we have given a free hand to the private sector to set up their own SEZs where the government will help in legal matters, land acquisition and provision of utilities,” the secretary said.

The provincial government’s public-private partnership was a successful model as the province was producing 660MW electricity from Thar coal, he added.

He further stated that the provincial government had allocated Rs284 billion for roads, water, sanitation and other development projects of the province in the current financial year 2019-20.

While briefing the participants regarding the province’s security situation, home secretary Dr Muhammad Usman Chachar said the security situation of the province had been improved.

He informed the junior diplomats that back in the year 2013, Karachi was in the list of six most dangerous cities of the world. But now, he added, the metropolitan was not included in the list of 70 most dangerous cities of the world. “It shows that the law and order situation has been improved,” he maintained.

The participants thanked the provincial chief secretary for the brief presentations regarding the Sindh government. The junior diplomats maintained that they had realised that Pakistan had potential to attract foreign investors.

The director of the Foreign Academy Islamabad, Samar Javed, said junior diplomats were on a visit to different provinces to have knowledge about various departments of the federal and provincial governments.

On the occasion, the provincial chief secretary, on behalf of Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, presented shields to the visiting junior diplomats.