LAHORE: Prime Minister of Pakistan Shahid Khaqan Abbasi on Sunday stressed upon the exporters to increase Pakistan’s exports to at least $100 billion as the country had immense potential to compete in the global markets.
He said the government had already met the demands of investors and exporters, and now it was up to them to enhance the volume of exports.
Addressing the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s (LCCI) achievement award ceremony, the prime minister said the three-month exports incentives announced by the government, were now paying dividends and hinted that the incentives period could be enhanced to three years.
“The government has provided whatever the exporters had demanded. Now, it is up to them to come forward and play their role in increasing the exports digits to $40 billion or $100 billion,” he added.
He called upon the exporter’s delegations to apprise the government of the steps they would be taking to push the country’s exports up.
The prime minister called upon the chambers and exporters associations to reciprocate the government’s steps by increasing the exports volume.
He referred to the cut in the income tax slabs and urged the gathering to utilise it for the benefit of the country. The prime minister also expressed the hope that the measures taken by the government would increase the tax net.
He said the elections would be held in July this year and the masses would decide the fate of political parties. As a result of their decision, a new government would be formed and mandated to function for its constitutional term.
He said under the vision of PML-N leader Nawaz Sharif, the government had been executing uplift projects worth billions of rupees throughout the country. There was not a single week in which he was not inaugurating development projects worth billions of rupees, he added.
He said the PML-N government only worked for the masses and the country. “The PML-N government not only initiated new projects and completed them but also cleared the past backlog, left unattended by the previous regimes,” he added.
He said the PML-N government performed well during the last five years, which was unparalleled in the country’s history and its functioning could be compared with others in the last 65 years.
The prime minister noted that the country would only progress through the continuation of a democratic system. The policies of the government would continue, he added.
The PML-N government, he said, had completed energy projects and increased the length of motorways to 1700 kilometres.
He said the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would also give a tremendous boost to business and investment activities, and called upon the exporters to take benefit of the special economic zones.
The prime minister said the next government would have the prerogative to amend the budget presented by the PML-N government. He, however, said the PML-N would again form the next government.
He said paying of taxes was not an option but a national responsibility and a test of patriotism. Through the use of technology tax evaders would certainly be detected, he added.
