Islamabad (PR): Prof. Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms has called upon ICCI to partner with government in implementation of CPEC projects. He said ICCI should set up a Cell on CPEC to identify opportunities of joint ventures for private sector in CPEC. He said ICCI should also form a think tank to help government in making future development plans. He said CPEC would be more beneficial to Pakistan than China as it would start a new era of energy and infrastructure development projects in the country.
He said CPEC will bring many backward areas of Pakistan into the mainstream of economy and will generate lot of jobs and business activities in such areas. He expressed these views while addressing business community at Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.
Ahsan Iqbal said 16000MW electricity was added to Pakistan in the last more than 60 years while energy projects under CPEC would generate 11000MW electricity in Pakistan which will be further enhanced up to 30,000MW by 2025 which would help business and industry to flourish.
He said the next century was the century of Asia and Pakistan being at a strategic location would play more effective role in regional connectivity. He said to include Pakistan into top 25 economies of the world, we have to increase our annual exports to US$ 150 billion and added that private sector has to take the lead to achieve this target. He said share of textiles was just 4% while that of engineering goods was up to 38% in international trade and stressed that private sector should focus on value added products including engineering, IT and others to make Pakistan an export-led economy.
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