ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan, citing reports, said on Thursday that as compared to Pakistan’s exports, exports of India and Bangladesh showed negative growth in November and December 2020.
The prime minister tweeted, “I have received the regional export trends and this shows that, compared to our exports, the exports of India and Bangladesh for Nov/Dec 2020 showed negative growth. I wish once again to congratulate the exporters and the Ministry of Commerce for this achievement”.
Statistics were also uploaded on his twitter account, which showed Pakistan’s exports in November and December last year were 8.32 percent and 18.30 percent, respectively, while those of India were -9.07 per cent and -0.80 per cent, whereas Bangladesh’s were 0.76 per cent and -6.11 per cent for the same period.
Meanwhile, Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa Chief Minister Mahmood Khan called on Prime Minister Imran Khan here and both discussed the current political situation. The CM briefed the PM on the food security policy of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa. The prime minister appreciated the measures taken for food security in KP and called for ensuring ample availability of essential commodities.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday said the construction sector was stabilising the economy and creating employment opportunities and he hoped that the provincial governments would reap the full benefits of the extension of benefits.
He was presiding over a weekly meeting of the National Coordinating Committee for Housing, Construction and Development here.
The Capital Development Authority (CDA) chairman briefed the meeting regarding the construction work in Sector E-11.
The meeting was informed that separate rules had been framed for the projects in the sector and the pending projects would be completed soon. It was informed that in all new constructions, special care would be taken for proper distance for parking and passage. A briefing was also given on the New Blue Area project.
The Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa (KP) chief secretary briefed the meeting about the master plan of 11 major cities of the province. The meeting was informed that planning was under way for eight locations in the tribal districts. It was informed that Rs242 billion had been allocated for urban development projects in the province in the financial year 2020-21, out of which Rs61 billion had been spent till Dec 2020. Legal reforms for urban development were also briefed.
The Sindh chief secretary apprised the meeting of the progress on the construction projects on which the prime minister expressed dissatisfaction.
The PM stressed that special attention should be paid to environmental protection in urban development and construction and greenery should be protected and increased as much as possible.
Separately, he chaired a meeting to review the progress on the Ravi Urban Development Project. The meeting was attended by Chairman New Pakistan Housing Authority Lt-Gen (R) Anwar Ali Haider and senior officials concerned.
In addition, Sindh Governor Imran Ismail, Adviser to Punjab Chief Minister Dr Salman Shah, Chairman Ravi Urban Development Authority Rashid Aziz and provincial chief secretaries participated through video link.
The meeting discussed in detail the approval of environmental protection measures with reference to Ravi City. The PM was informed that the construction of botanical gardens would be ensured at every stage of the project in view of environmental protection.
The PM termed the progress on the project satisfactory and said that the set targets of the project should be met on time and no concessions should be made while fulfilling all the legal requirements of environmental protection.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan met the founding team of well-know Turkish drama serial Ertugrul, led by Kamal Tekden. The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Information and Broadcasting Senator Shibli Faraz, Chairman Kashmir Committee Shahryar Afridi and personalities from Turkish and Pakistani film industry.
The meeting discussed in detail the proposed television series on the famous Kardad Turk Lala from the Subcontinent of the Khilafah Movement in collaboration with Turkey and Pakistan.
Afridi lauded the prime minister's move to broadcast Turkish dramas in Pakistan, adding that the vision of Prime Minister Imran Khan and Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan was one that for the development of any country, its young generation must share its history. And it is very important to create awareness about your culture.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said Pakistani dramas were known all over the world till the 1980s. The Pakistani film and drama industry needs to work for promotion of local culture so that the young generation, who are intimidated by the West, can be made aware of their true culture and be saved from the social evils that are spreading among the new generation due to neighbouring countries.
The PM said that the rule of Muslims in the Subcontinent was a golden age, but unfortunately the younger generation did not know about it.
Meanwhile, Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday chaired the Apex Committee on Economic Outreach meeting, which decided that the Ministry of Commerce will furnish an action plan with timelines in a week and will update the prime minister on weekly basis regarding progress made on priority sectors.
Prime Minister Imran Khan said that the main objective of this apex committee was to chalk out a long term plan for import substitution and increasing exports so that Pakistan becomes self-reliant. He stressed upon the need to enhance inter-ministerial coordination and public-private partnership for increasing exports.
The committee meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Shah Mehmood Qureshi, Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Muhammad Hammad Azhar, Senator Shibli Faraz, Syed Fakhar Imam, Fawad Ahmed, Advisor to PM Abdul Razak Dawood, Governor State Bank Dr. Reza Baqir, SAPMs Dr. Moeed Yusuf, Dr. Faisal Sultan and senior officers.
Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, AJK and Gilgit-Baltistan participated thorough video link.
Speaking on the occasion, the prime minister emphasized that international best practices need to be adopted for priority sectors and consultations with international experts is essential for achieving success.
SAPM Dr. Moeed Yusuf briefed the meeting that an extensive mapping exercise about export potential of goods and services has been carried out in consultation with relevant government ministries, provinces and the private sector. He informed that information technology, textiles, agriculture, meat, leather, pottery & ceramics, machinery & auto parts, metals and surgical instruments possess an additional export potential of $31 billion.
SAPM on National Security presented an overview for human resource allocation, key performance indicators for foreign missions of Pakistan, human resource training and strengthening of ministerial structures.
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