ISLAMABAD, Sep 06 (APP): Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Wednesday, reiterating his government’s priority to widen the tax net, instructed all the relevant departments to work collectively for bringing in tax reforms.

The prime minister, chairing a meeting to discuss the matters pertaining to the Federal Board of Revenue and Privatisation Division, emphasised the need to improve coordination between federal and provincial governments to carry out tax documentation.

He said that the FBR was an important component of the government machinery.

He instructed the authorities concerned to fulfill the legal obligations to accelerate the privatisation of loss-making state-owned enterprises and asked all the federal ministries to cooperate with the Privatisation Division.

In the briefing, the prime minister was told that the FBR was determined to achieve the tax collection target of Rs9415 billion. The Board has collected Rs 538 billion in July this year against the target of Rs534 billion. In August, the tax collection of Rs669 billion was made against the target of Rs 648 billion.

It was told that the domestic tax collection has witnessed an increase of 38.7 percent during 2023-24 comparing the previous year.

The prime minister was told that digital tools were also being used to enhance the tax-to-GDP ratio and the FBR’s database was also being linked with other departments.

The FBR was also striving to achieve the target of including another one million taxpayers in the tax net as 182,000 new taxpayers had already been added this year.

The prime minister was told that the scope of Point of Sales syatem was being expanded to more cities and retailers.

The efforts are being made to add another 20,000 new retailers in the PoS this year besides formulating a strategy on Transit Trade Management System.

It was told that work on the customs digitalisation was underway and Pakistan Single Window system was being linked with more government institutions.

The Privatisation Division was working to improve working and service delivery of government corporations by utilising the capabilities of the private sector.

Interim Finance Minister Dr Shamshad Akhtar, Advisor Ahad Cheema, federal secretaries of finance, aviation and privatisation, FBR chairman and relevant senior officers attended the meeting.

ISLAMABAD, Sep 06 (APP): Australian High Commissioner called on Caretaker Minister for Health Dr. Nadeem Jan and discussed stronger health ties between the two countries.
The High Commissioner congratulated the health minister on assuming the office and expressed delight at the appointment of a globally renowned health expert by the Government of Pakistan as Health Minister.
During the meeting, the health minister discussed his priorities in the health sector. He mentioned his commitment to improving healthcare in line with the Prime Minister’s vision. Quality of service in the health sector is central to his mission, Dr. Nadeem Jan said and added, both the countries have friendly relations.
He emphasized dedicating his abilities to complete the mission.
The Global Health Security Summit is being held in Pakistan. Health experts and delegates from around the world are participating in this conference.
The minister said that Pakistan’s efforts and role in global health security were well known worldwide. Strengthening the country’s healthcare system to prevent infectious diseases is a priority, he said and added that both the countries would learn from each other’s experiences regarding cross-border disease transmission.
Dr. Nadeem Jan stated that he was working to strengthen the Border Health Service system as part of the Global Health Security Agenda.

The High Commissioner said, “Australia values its relationship with Pakistan”.

ISLAMABAD, Sep 6 (APP): Caretaker Prime Minister Anwaar-ul-Haq Kakar on Wednesday, appreciating the measures taken by the IT Ministry to reform the telecom and IT sector, assured that the caretaker government would provide all possible support to the ministry for expanding the IT exports.

He was chairing a meeting to review the steps taken by the Ministry for Information Technology to enhance the IT exports by over $5 billion by bringing reforms in the sector.

The prime minister expressed the hope that the measures would help improve the national economy, besides creating more employment opportunities in the sector, and earning valuable foreign exchange reserves.

He was informed about the plan being executed by the ministry for increasing the IT exports and the measures taken for development of the sector.

It was told that the ministry was working to bring all the government services at federal level under one umbrella by digitizing them, which would enable the government to improve the tax collection system and identify the evaders. Furthermore, the complete digitization of economy was also underway.

It was further apprised that it would be made mandatory for all the university students across the country to get the IT training of international standard. “This measure will help increase the skilled workforce of international standard in the IT sector by over 200,000 that will in turn raise the IT exports to $5 billion.”

The prime minister was informed that the ministry was taking measures to provide training and facilities to the free lancers, including easy inflow of their remittances. The measures include interest-free loans to the private sector for the provision of co-working spaces, access of freelancers to internationally popular payment service providers and provision of fast speed Internet facility.

“These measures will help increase the exports of IT sector by $3 billion,” the meeting was told.

It was further informed that the government was also taking steps for easy access to loans and investment for i-startups, due to which external investment of $1 billion was expected in the next six months.

The ministry also presented a plan for bringing reforms in the telecom sector and provision of high speed 5-G service.

The meeting was attended by Caretaker Minister for Information Technology Dr Umar Saif, Advisor the PM Ahad Khan Cheema and other relevant officials.