President Asif Ali Zardari on Thursday said the government took special measures and initiatives for political peace and reconciliation in Karachi and has always kept the doors of dialogue open with all political elements in the country.
Karachi being the country's port city and generating most of the revenue was crucial for the national economy and that is why the government moved fast to keep all stakeholders on board to restore peace and stability in Karachi, he said this while addressing the 35th Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) Export Trophy Award Ceremony here at the Aiwan-e-Sadr.
The President commended the business community in Pakistan for the continued good performance and achieving record export performance in 2010-11 despite the numerous internal and external challenges including the problems of militancy, law and order, power shortages, circular debt, global economic slowdown and the reluctance of foreign investors to visit Pakistan.
Today's ceremony has been organised to honour the proud men and women of various business houses with Export Awards and was recognition of their efforts and achievements, he said and appreciated the generosity by businessmen in times of national calamity including the earthquake in 2005, the floods last year and the floods in Sindh this year. "Time and again, FPCCI has played an active role in attending to the victims of natural disasters," he said and added that FPCCI was also involved in providing relief to Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in 2008.
Spokesperson to the President Farhatullah Babar said the President commented on the hard economic situation and difficult conditions, the government inherited in 2008. The President said, "We were facing grave challenges from both within and outside our borders."
"We were wheat importing country but the discontinuity in economic policies put us in difficult conditions resulting in huge energy shortage besides creating the issue of circular debt for the present government." He said however the government while declaring reconciliation as the anchor of the policy has set out to address each and every issue keeping in mind the best interests of the country and its people. The President said businessmen should take ownership of policies of the government unlike the past when PPP's policy to generate 40,000 megawatts of electricity through Independent Power Producers (IPPs) was put in cold storage, which led to the present power shortages.
The President expressed the hope that the government while following the policy of reconciliation would move closer to the objective of a more unified Pakistan, adding that he sees every one as a partner in country's progress and prosperity
The President while addressing the gathering highlighted Pakistan's bilateral relations and trade ties with the immediate neighbours including China, India, Iran and other trading partners of the world and said the government has made regional trade a key priority.
"We have resumed the composite dialogue process with India and there have been exchanges of high level visits between the two countries with the Prime Minister of Pakistan visiting India early this year hence breaking the ice between the two countries."
"Recently India announced to lift its objection to the EU proposal for concessions to Pakistan", the President said and added, "We have also made great progress in increasing the number of items that can be traded with India." The President appreciated the business community as it has been extremely supportive in providing with feedback on this issue of trade with India.
Besides India, the President said Pakistan also strengthened ties with traditional friends, China and Iran and added that besides progress on the pipeline project with Tehran, most recently, Pakistan made some good progress in relations with Iran by agreeing to allow Bank Melli of Iran to operate in Pakistan which he said would facilitate traders in opening LCs while selling to Iranian buyers. On robust relations with the time tested friend China, the President said that he undertook eight visits to China for further strengthening economic relations and commended the Chinese help in boosting Pakistan's economy.