D.I. KHAN / ISLAMABAD: Guaranteeing that the caretaker administration and the next government will follow the country’s agreement with the International Monetary Fund (IMF), Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif told international donors on Tuesday that cash allocated to flood victims would be utilized wisely.
Addressing the third meeting of the International Partners Support Group (IPSG), which was formed in the aftermath of the Resilient Pakistan Conference earlier this year in Geneva, Prime Minister Shehbaz stated that Pakistan would fully implement the IMF agreement, and that not only the caretaker government, but also the next government, would do so.
Read more : IMF Acknowledges Insufficient Aid to Pakistan Following Devastating Floods
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif appears to be in full campaign mode just weeks before the term of the current assembly expires.
Earlier in the day, he launched eight separate megaprojects in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, including gas, electricity, and infrastructure plans.
PM Shehbaz stated in his speech that the coalition administration had led the country out of what was possibly the most difficult era in its history.
The government faced huge hurdles in the last 16 months, he noted, including a disastrous flood that rocked the country shortly after he entered office, inflation, IMF pressure, and a political crisis.
Coalition parties, on the other hand, had unanimously agreed to guarantee economic stability at any cost, even the loss of their own political capital.
PM Shehbaz has also continued to criticize his predecessor, PTI head Imran Khan, claiming that he deceived and agitated the youth.
“Let them know how many laptops and scholarships they gave to children, and what he did to empower them,” he said rhetorically.
He blamed the PTI administration for all evils, from a jump in circular debt and loadshedding to crippling inflation and undermining the IMF program, and said his government had done well in rescuing the fragile economy it had inherited.
Speaking at the occasion, JUI-F president Maulana Fazl ur Rehman stated that the PTI administration had halted all development projects such as CPEC, and that nations such as Saudi Arabia, Dubai, and China had begun to lose trust in Pakistan, limiting future investment in development projects.
Read more : China Surpasses Japan in Car Exports, Driven by Sales Surge to Russia
The Maulana also praised the industrial estates being built in Bannu and Dera Ismail Khan, claiming that they would transform the fate of the locals.
Energy Minister Khurram Dastgir stated that development projects that had been stalled between 2018 and 2022 were being prioritized, and that the present government had contributed 5,000MW of electricity to the national system in just 16 months.
Asad Mehmood, Minister of Communications, stated that the coalition administration is committed to building a road link between Gwadar Port and Central Asian countries as part of CPEC.
Later in the day, at the launch of the Prime Minister’s Freelancer and Venture Capital Initiative and the National Innovation Award Investor Connect, PM Shehbaz stated that providing maximum financial and professional support to the youth was critical in order to tap their potential in the field of information technology.
He described the Rs 2 billion allotted for venture capital as “peanuts” in comparison to the talent and relevance of IT.
The prime minister was “taken aback” as he visited stalls and was briefed on the creative initiatives created by the youth, such as agricultural drones, IT-led medical systems, and the utilization of banana peels for various products.
“I really salute all of you,” the prime minister said, praising Sahar Munir, a Naushki girl, for her vision and plans to grow the IT sector.
He said that a network of incubation centers should have been established across the country ten years ago and recalled the installation of such a center at Arfa Karim Tower in 2009, while he was Punjab chief minister.
