‘Charter of economy is the need of the hour’: Asif

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Defense Khawaja Muhammad Asif on Monday said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) was seeking economic consensus with all parties to push the country towards economic prosperity.

Talking to a private news channel, he said that it was included in PML-N’s manifesto to give facilities to the interior areas of Punjab, Sindh and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa (KP) and bring them at par with cities.

PML-N’s manifesto prioritizes grassroots economic initiatives to address the country’s failing economic structure, he added.

The government was taking steps to overhaul the fragmented tax system, ensuring businesses pay their tax in time, while also tackling electricity and gas theft to strengthen the economy, he added.

Meanwhile, President Asif Ali Zardari underlined the need to enhance trade and investment relations with the USA, besides exploring collaborative opportunities in diverse sectors.

He said that American enterprises should be encouraged to invest in the Pakistan Stock Exchange as well as bring innovative business ideas to the country’s economy.
The president made these remarks while talking to Ambassador of the United States of America (USA) to Pakistan Donald Blome who called on him, at Aiwan-e-Sadr, President Secretariat Press Wing said in a press release.
During the meeting, the president said that Pakistan had enjoyed a long-standing and broad-based relationship with the USA spanning over seven decades, which needed to be further strengthened.
He said hat the top priority of Pakistan was to put its economy on the right track and overcome economic and security challenges. He highlighted that climate change was a global issue, and Pakistan was among the countries most vulnerable to its adverse impacts. He said that Pakistan wanted to improve its agricultural sector by adopting modern irrigation techniques to conserve water and reduce reliance on flood irrigation.