(Sept 28, 2020)
President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum and All Karachi Industrial Alliance, and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain on Monday said countries with a weak economy cannot have a strong defence.
Government is doing its best to promote economy but it needs to redouble its efforts as a lot of countries are trying to destabilise Pakistan.
Mian Zahid Hussain said that our GDP growth is mere 1.5 percent which can be improved triggering industrialisation.
Talking to the business community, the veteran business leader said that there are few countries left in the world that prefer security over the economy while all the developed nations prefer economy over everything else.
Economically challenged nations like Pakistan has to accept dictation from other countries even if it is not in the national interest, he observed.
The business leader said that our economy can only develop if policymakers change their thinking, all ministries work together for the greater good, while taxation should not be aimed at revenue but the development of trade.
Diplomats should be asked to promote economic interests and weaknesses in the system should be addressed as ambassadors report to the Foreign Office while commercial consular report to the Commerce Ministry which creates confusion.
Pakistan lacks a proper international digital payments system while multinationals working in this field is not ready to step in the Pakistani market, therefore, we should design our own system without delay, he said, adding that judicial, taxation and dispute resolution system must be fine-tuned.
He said that cotton production is almost half as compared to the target of 15 million bales which must be improved.
