PM vows to make Pakistan financially viable, economically self-reliant

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday said his vision was to make Pakistan a financially viable and economically self-reliant country, by getting rid of the dependency syndrome.

Addressing Pakistan Economic Forum in Islamabad, the prime minister said wealth creation was necessary to take the country forward. He said a business friendly culture would be introduced in the country and businessmen would be encouraged to invest their capital in various sectors.

He said no country could progress if it presented its industrialists as criminals. He said making money was no sin, but using unfair means to make it or avoiding tax was.

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Citing the example of China, Imran Khan said the East Asian country lifted 700 million people out of poverty in three decades.

“We will learn from China’s experience to alleviate poverty in the country,” he said.

PM Khan said focus was being made to improve competitiveness of Pakistan’s products to grab major share of exports in world markets. He said the incumbent government had introduced policies to facilitate export industry.

The prime minister said money laundering and smuggling harmed the country hard and steps were being taken to discourage those practices.

He said the tax policy and collection had been separated to create a favourable environment for businesses. He said Pakistan was an attractive destination for investment and in recent months many foreign firms had expressed keen interest to invest in various sectors of the country.

Imran assured the business community that he would keep in touch with it on regular basis.