RIYADH: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that Pakistan cannot continue to rely on loans, as borrowing weakens the country’s economy and breaks its backbone.
Speaking at the 9th Future Investment Initiative Conference titled “Is Humanity Heading in the Right Direction” in Riyadh, the prime minister took part in a high-level discussion on the theme “Is Humanity Moving in the Right Direction?”
PM Shehbaz called for mutual cooperation to support countries like Pakistan that are battered by the climate catastrophes and ruled out loans as the only option to recover. He added that repeated loans would erode the economic might of such countries stagnating economic development.
Therefore, he said if humanity had to move forward then it should proceed in unison, share its bounties and grievances together and share modern technologies with those countries which can use it to grow its production in the areas of agriculture, industry, and employment among others.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also extended felicitations to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for the event and his vision to transform societies like he has done in Saudi Arabia.
“I represent the country which is rich in resources and ever since our inception we have made very honest mistakes and learnt from it. We all are human beings, prone to mistake but important is to learn from your mistakes,” he said.
PM Shehbaz informed the forum the massive reforms being implemented in Pakistan and termed them the most robust changes and deep rooted reforms that were direly required at this time.
“For example our Federal Board of Revenue, the tax collecting institution has been completely digitized and we are attacking corruption with full might…but Rome was not built overnight. We are undertaking industrial reforms and have a youth bulge as 60 per cent of our population is very young and…it’s a challenge as well as an opportunity,” the prime minister said.
The government of Pakistan was offering its youth skill trainings and lot of other portfolios for productive employment, he added. Pakistan, an agrarian economy, is among the top 10 countries which are exposed to the vagaries of weather and climate change despite its least share in the global warming.
“Our GHG emissions are less than the fraction of one percent yet in 2022 we faced devastating cloudburst floods and storms and our economic losses reached around 130 billion dollars. Large swathes of our land under were water, crops were destroyed and millions of houses were destroyed and then we have to borrow loans to rebuild the areas that were devastated,” he said.
The Prime Minister added that in 2025 again, Pakistan had witnessed terrible floods and cloudbursts leaving it absolutely helpless. “This is not acceptable and it should not be the direction for humanity to proceed in times of crisis,” he said.
Sharif Sharif added that the country was striving to recover and revive its economy but it had to be shared by the global humanity to come to the rescue of suffering humanity otherwise this lopsided system would provide devastating results.
Pakistan, he said is resolved to become one of the most going countries through hard work, untiring efforts, collating its youth, natural resources and strength to emerge as an honourable country in the comity of nations by the grace of God. Responding to a query, he said Pakistan is already set and speedily moving towards AI and technology adoption.
However, AI has its pros and cons that demanded the global north to come for a dialogue on AI for its positive, productive use and have synergy with global south.
Pakistan is equipping its youth with AI, IT and technology using all out means to create hubs and data centres that requires huge investment, he added.
The prime minister mentioned his father’s struggle of reviving from turmoil after nationalization of his one of the largest steel engineering plants in the country in 1972, enunciating the message of untiring effort, indomitable resolve and tireless efforts as the cornerstone to achieve unimaginable outcomes in times of extreme crisis.
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