ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday directed the Board of Investment (BoI) chairman to present a comprehensive plan listing all the issues in various sectors and their sub-sectors and how the processes could be streamlined to simplify procedures related to government approvals, addressing taxation issues, dispute resolution and facilitating the investors and businesses.
The prime minister chaired a high-level meeting to review progress on improving ease of doing business and creating an enabling environment to facilitate conversion of interest of the local as well foreign investors into actual investments in the country.
BoI Chairman Haroon Sharif while briefing the prime minister about the steps taken so far said the board would be serving as an agent of change for facilitating business transactions, removing impediments in the way to materialization of investors’ interest into actual investments and smooth functioning of the businesses in the country. He also briefed the meeting about various issues being faced by the business community, including taxation, access to finance, regulation and policy issues and red tapism.
He said the BoI was also actively working with the provinces and relevant ministries for removing barriers in the way of establishing special economic zones. He said special efforts were being made to bridge the gap between private and public sector and to reach out to the private sector to revive their confidence in government policies and put in place a framework that facilitates business community in its business pursuits.
The BoI chairman also briefed about Naya Pakistan Diaspora Fund which was being set up to promote SMEs and rural development in key areas of education, health and infrastructure development. He apprised the prime minister of the investment framework which had been structured for attracting and materializing investment from UAE, KSA, China, Japan and Malaysia.
It was decided during the meeting that the prime minister would chair a review meeting every month on ease of doing business in the country.
Separately, addressing the Pakistan Economic Forum organized by the Pakistan Business Council, Prime Minister Imran Khan, while assuring the business community of a changed and pro-investment culture in days ahead, stressed that the policies to promote wealth creation and ease of doing business were inevitable for poverty alleviation and self-dependence. He said being a resource-rich country, Pakistan had great potential for investment but the tax regime in vogue as well as prevailing mindset to discourage the wealth creation were major impediments to economic uplift of the country.
He said his government had decided to establish exclusive offices to handle the issues related to ease of doing business and poverty alleviations at PM Office and that he is committed for a frequent interaction with the business community to know the impact of the government policies.
The prime minister viewed that the geo-strategic position, China-Pakistan Economic Corridor, over 120 million young population of around 35 years age and government’s commitment to eliminate corruption were the factors to attract the investors to the country.
He told the audience that the government was going tough on money laundering besides encouraging the overseas Pakistanis to send their remittances through banking channels.
Chairing a briefing on the performance of Islamabad Capital Territory (ICT) Police and the way forward in transforming it into a model police force, Prime Minister Imran Khan Thursday approved to increase Shuhada Assistance Package for ICT Police personnel bringing it at par with other parts of the country and assured government’s full support to make it a model force. He also approved provision of Sehat Insaaf cards to the police personnel for catering to their health needs.
IGP Islamabad M Amir Zulfiqar Khan briefed the prime minister about the performance of the ICT Police and also highlighted various steps taken on his directions to improve service delivery and instilling a sense of security among the inhabitants of the federal capital. He also identified various administrative, legal, financial and human resource constraints faced by the ICT Police while improving the performance of the force and making it a model force of the country.
The prime minister appreciated the efforts of ICT Police for maintenance of law and order and security of the capital and directed to submit a comprehensive plan for meeting the requirements of ICT Police. He assured that the government would provide all possible support to ICT Police in its mission to serve the people and emerge as a model police force. The prime minister also appreciated employment of IT solutions by the ICT Police for improving service delivery and reaching out to the public for their feedback on its performance.
Meanwhile, Chief of Army Staff General Qamar Javed Bajwa called on Prime Minister Imran Khan to discuss important security related matters on Thursday. During the meeting, matters related to overall security situation of the country and ongoing operation against terrorism were discussed.
Speaker National Assembly Asad Qaisar also called on the prime minister and discussed with him legislation in the National Assembly and formation of standing committees of the house.
Talking to a delegation of PTI senators from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Prime Minister Imran Khan instructed them to make sure their presence in all sessions and inform the Upper House about the government’s reforms in various sectors, development schemes and planning.
Published in Daily Times, December 14th 2018.
