President stresses corruption free environment to attract investors

FAISALABAD, Apr 25 (APP)::President Dr Arif Alvi has said that Faisalabad has become the center stage of trade and business activities in the wake of China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project.
He was addressing the Export Excellence Award distribution ceremony, organised by the Pakistan Textile Exporters Association (PTEA) here Thursday. He underlined the importance of trade and commerce, saying that the most revered personalities of Islam including Holy Prophet Hazrat Muhammad (Peace Be Upon Him), Hazrat Khadija (RA) and Caliph Hazrat Usman-e-Ghani (RA) were attached with this business.
He said that at the moment, not only CPEC project was available to local and international traders in Pakistan but various nations were also signing trade agreements with Pakistan to promote their businesses. However, in order to materialise these agreements, we must provide a corruption-free environment to the foreign investors.
He criticized the corrupt elements, who had plagued the system. He said that being a nation we must decide about our future and take prudent decisions so that investors could invest here with complete peace of mind.
He said the energy crisis is a major issue which has hampered our growth rate. However, we must identify its root-causes to avoid recurrence of such crisis in future.
He said that the government was working with a commitment to serve masses, and all stakeholders of the economy were being consulted regularly to make public-friendly decisions.
He said that law and order situation had been improved gradually and now investors are fully prepared to invest in Pakistan and we must facilitate them through good policies.
He also underlined the importance of tourism and said that it is one of the fastest growing sectors of our economy. He mentioned that Gilgit-Baltistan is one of the most attractive tourist sites in this region and we must develop these areas to attract foreign tourists. He said that Pakistan has a number of Buddha and Sikh religious sites which could help promote religious tourism in this part of the region.
He said that he would request Prime Minister Imran Khan to visit Faisalabad at an appropriate time to interact with the people and business community of this important city.
Earlier, Khurram Mukthar, chairman, Pakistan Textile Exporters Association, explained the role of exports in stabilising national economy. He said that the PTEA is one of the leading registered trade associations watching the interests of the textile exporters of Pakistan.
He said that textile is the main economic strength of Pakistan and we must facilitate it to further increase exports, which is imperative to bridge the widening import and export gap.
Provincial Minister for Industries, Commerce and Investment Mian Aslam Iqbal also addressed the function and promised that the provincial departments would resolve genuine issues of the business community on priority basis.
Later, President Arif Alvi distributed PTEA Excellence Awards among the best exporters of the country.
Earlier, the president also held a separate meeting with the office-bearers of All Pakistan Textile Processing Mills Association (APTPMA) and assured them of solution to their problems.