Pakistan needs long march for economic development, says Ahsan Iqbal

Federal Minister of Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives Ahsan Iqbal said on Wednesday that what Pakistan needed was not a long march by political parties but a long march for the country’s economic development, reported 24NewsHD TV channel.

Addressing an Eid Milan party hosted by the Pakistani community in Jeddah, he said these were economic ties that provided a solid foundation for relations between any two countries. 

He appealed to members of the Pakistani community living in Saudi Arabia to play their role to further strengthening economic ties between the two countries. 

Ahsan further said that an increase in exports was one of the points of the five-point Urran Pakistan agenda.   

The minister claimed that under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, the country’s economy, which had gone downhill, was now in a position to take off. 

It was the duty of every Pakistani, he went on to say, to spend his energies for the country’s economic betterment and prosperity. 

Ahsan said that overseas Pakistanis were the nation’s asset. “The world is changing because of the latest technology. And it was high time we changed ourselves too,” he asserted.

The minister was of the view that Muslims were lagging behind other nations in the world because of their lack of interest in science and technology.

Referring to former prime minister and PTI founder Imran Khan, he said that he introduced Pakistanis to the world as the people who were corrupt and plunderers. “The truth of the matter is that Pakistanis are known for their intelligence and hard work,” Ahsan said, adding, “Pakistan has been blessed with mineral resources worth trillions of dollars. The government has launched projects in Balochistan to dig out these minerals, which is giving sleepless nights to the country’s enemies.”

“Balochistan will develop and will go on to become the most prosperous province of Pakistan,” he added.   

The minister opined the reason why Pakistan was lagging behind other countries in the world was because of political uncertainty and discontinuation of policies. “We have to learn from our mistakes to make sure that the country does not become unstable again,” he asserted.

Ahsan informed that the government had initiated a programme to train 200,000 youth in the Information Technology sector every year. “The government plans to send 1,000 agriculture experts to China for their training in modern agricultural techniques,” he said.