BHURBAN: Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal said on Tuesday said 8 per cent GDP growth rate was must to maintain economic parity in the region.
"We need to look for out of the box economic strategy instead of traditional approach to overcome the economic woes, " said the minister addressing the 6th All Pakistan Chambers' Presidents Conference at Bhurban.
He said the country was facing multiple economic challenges and the government had to take some hard decisions to stabilize the economy.
Ahsan Iqbal said security paradigm had changed from military power to economic power. The next generation wars between various regions would be trade wars instead of military ones.
Therefore, the countries were focusing more on becoming economically competitive than building military hardware, he said and stressed, "We must adapt to this changing scenario for our survival."
This purpose could only be achieved by carving out bigger home market advantage through regional integration into economic blocks like European Union, ASEAN and NAFTA, because in future almost 85 per cent of the world trade was going to be either inter-regional or intra-regional in nature, he added.
The minister said, "It is pity that Pakistan has not integrated itself into any of the viable regional blocks so far for becoming economically competitive by harnessing the true potential of economies of scale."
He said as knowledge economy had replaced the traditional agricultural and industrial economies so there was need for developing knowledge linkages in every sector of economy.
"Even a fisherman or a farmer cannot succeed without making him abreast with the technology-driven practices in his respective field," he remarked.
The minister said it was a hard fact that Pakistan was nowhere in the global market both in quality and quantity terms. The business community must focus on their capacity building, and must engage best researchers in chambers of commerce and industries throughout the country to enhance their production and productivity, he added.
Dilating on initiatives for economic stability, the minister said the government had started medium to long term projects within the framework of 11th Five Year Plan and Vision 2025 for providing affordable energy to the industry.
It has put in place well-coordinated efforts both at federal and provincial levels after consensus of political parties to curb the menace of terrorism and extremism in Karachi, he added.
He said the award of GSP Plus status to Pakistan by the EU was government's great achievement in terms of creating business friendly and export-driven economic environment in the country.
" It shows the confidence of international community in government's policies," he said.
He said due to government policies, Chinese and Japanese investors were showing keen interest in engaging themselves with Pakistan in various projects.
Speaking on the occasion, President Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Shumail Dawood said traders were facing several issues and the purpose of this meeting was to discuss the issues the country was facing currently.
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