Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday said with the help of the Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC), the immediate task was to increase the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) in the country up to $5 billion.
He said he had fervently advocated a unified approach to steer the country out of the economic challenges on a path to sustainable growth.
“Employing a whole-of-the-the-government approach, the coalition government has decided to set up a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) with a mandate to frame economic policies that ensure policy predictability, continuity and effective implementation to revive the economy”, the prime minister said in a tweet.
He said by virtue of its composition, the SIFC will serve as a top decision-making forum to push through fundamental reforms in the structure of the economy.
To begin with, he said, the forum will focus on leveraging key sectors such as IT, agriculture, energy, minerals and mining, and defence production.
“Attracting investment from friendly countries remains one of the key goals of the SIFC,” he added.
Shehbaz said the need for a representative forum like the SIFC has long been felt, given the scale of the economic challenges caused by internal and external factors.
He said the textbook approach to deal with a unique set of problems is not workable anymore. Hence, all the more reason to leverage collective wisdom to kick-start the economy to make it self-reliant, export-driven, and robust, capable of withstanding external shocks and upheavals.
“Creative ideas offer the solution to our economic problems,” he added.
Meanwhile, PM Sharif also said early childhood education was a building block for shaping the personality & determining career pathways for the children.
He said it was at this early stage in their educational journey that they imbibe the basic norms and values of social conduct.
“Happy to announce the holding of Pakistan Learning Conference 2023 that focuses on building foundations by adopting the global best practices to empower children,” he said in a tweet.
The prime minister said he was very keen to attend the conference and listen to the varied perspectives from scholars and policy practitioners from different backgrounds, but could not make it due to his commitment to represent Pakistan at a global financial moot in Paris.
“However, I wish the conference all the best and look forward to its recommendations for building a resilient and happy future for our children,” he added.
On the other hand, referring to his upcoming visit to France to attend the New Global Financing Pact Summit, the premier said the reform of international financial architecture has long been a key demand at different forums by public policy scholars, policy practitioners & world leaders especially from the Global South.
In a tweet on Wednesday morning, Shehbaz said the grave nature of challenges such as climate change, natural disasters, environment, rising levels of debt and energy transitions has rung alarm bells.
“The globalization of the problems has necessitated the need for creative approaches to rethink the global financial system to make it representative and equitable,” he tweeted.
He further said that during his visit to France, he would present Pakistan’s position on the need for restructuring of international financial institutions to fight the contemporary challenges facing humanity.
