Islamabad, 21 December 2022 (TDI): The Minister for Planning, Development, and Special Initiatives of Pakistan, Ahsan Iqbal said the government of Pakistan will launch new projects for the development of coastal areas and explore the potential of the blue economy of Pakistan.
Minister Ahsan Iqbal shared his opening remarks at the 3rd International Maritime Symposium 2022 from 20-21 December organized by the National Institute of Maritime Affairs, Islamabad on Tuesday.
Minister Ahsan Iqbal’s remarks
Minister for Planning and Development said, as a part of the blue economy under CPEC, Pakistan needs to protect its seas and oceans, particularly with the strategic importance of Gwadar.
Under CPEC, the government of Pakistan financed 8 ships for Maritime Security Agency (MSA) from Public Sector Development Program (PSDP) and today MSA has very modern ships to patrol and protect maritime interests, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
Federal Minister highlighted the importance of the Karachi Shipyard project which the government recently initiated through PSDP under the vision of a blue economy.
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This project enabled Pakistan to become a base for manufacturing the ships and be a service center and manufacturing hub for the shipping industry, Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
He further added that the current government is committed to promoting the blue economy potential of the country. Moreover, Minister Ahsan Iqbal in an opening session said 21st Century is a century of economic ideologies.
Producing wealth, distributing it justly, and creating wealth more competitively are the three engines of growth, he said.
While addressing the Symposium, he stated that to move up the ladder from G77 to G20 to G7, Pakistan has to focus on increasing per-capita income.
This vision to increase per-capita income transpired the country’s journey towards CPEC, says Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal.
He furthermore mentioned, since the start of CPEC $46 billion in Chinese investment came starting from the Gwadar project to highways, energy, telecommunication, and socioeconomic sector.
Due to CPEC, the world that was viewing Pakistan as a security country earlier started taking Pakistan as a haven for billions of dollars of Chinese Investment, Federal Minister added.
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