Revolutionising industry vital for country’s uplift: Alvi

LAHORE: President Dr Arif Alvi on Friday said the government is ensuring ''ease of doing business'' for attracting maximum foreign investment as revolutionising the industrial sector is vital for the uplift of the country.

He was addressing the media after inaugurating ''Challenge Textile Park'' a project launched by the Chinese with an investment of about $150 million, at Challenge Textile here. He said initiatives like “Challenge Textile Park” would help attract further investment. Special economic zones are being established, he said. The world is changing and no one can economically isolate a country, he added.

The president said Pakistan-China relationships are of paramount importance for bringing prosperity in the region. "We invite Chinese to come here, invest and spread a message across the world about available business opportunities in Pakistan", Alvi maintained.

Pakistan as a brand, he said, is emerging strongly and the government has achieved significant success in the macro-finance sector, agriculture sector and overcoming the COVID-19 pandemic. Punjab Minister for Industries and Commerce Aslam Iqbal, businessman Qamar Khan Bobi, the Chinese consul general and a large number of business representatives from China were present.

Meanwhile, addressing a national seminar on protection of women against harassment, Dr Alvi lauded the government efforts of activating institutions to protect women against harassment and empower them by rights of ownership and possession of properties. He said the financial empowerment of women is a must for the progress of the nation.

Islam provided protection and property rights to women when it was unimagined 1400 years ago. The society must stop women harassment as governments and laws alone cannot do it. The seminar was jointly organised by the Office of Ombudsperson Punjab and the UN Women and Bargad, a youth development organization. Federal and Balochistan Ombudspersons Kashmala Tariq and Sabira Islam, Nadeemur Rehman, secretary Human Rights and Minorities Affairs Department, and Muhammad Kamran Khan, chief operating officer Punjab Safe Cities Authority, Senator Waleed Iqbal and MPA Uzma Kardar, Bushra Khaliq and Shahzad Ahmad Khan, and Executive Director Bargad Sabiha Shaheen attended the seminar. Nabila Malick and Noor Imran moderated the seminar.