KARACHI, Dec 4: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz on Saturday said that to become a regional economic power, Pakistan needed to develop outstanding networks of communication infrastructure.

He was speaking as chief guest at the inauguration of Pakistan International Container Terminal (PICT) at the Karachi Port.

It is the only container terminal in the country which was developed, owned and managed by Pakistani professionals. The project was financed by the International Finance Corporation (IFC), a subsidiary of the World Bank. The Opec Fund has also participated in it.

The premier points out that Pakistan is located at the crossroads of Central Asia, the Middle East and South Asia, and to become a regional economic power, the country needs to develop outstanding networks of rail, road, air links and marine transport.

Mr Aziz said: "The current economic scenario provides us an opportunity to integrate ourselves in the global shipping sector serving as a hub connecting this whole region. With the Gwadar Port coming up, we should be ready to optimize and market our facilities to meet the shipping demand and make a major impact on the regional sea trade."

"Response from local and foreign entrepreneurs has been quite positive, making substantial investment in the oil and gas exploration, infrastructure development and telecommunications."

The premier said most countries were moving towards minimizing cargo clearance time to 24 hours. "Cognizant of this, our government has initiated measures like risk-based customs evaluation to reduce clearance time. To us, it is vital because of impending increase in imports and exports and the level of trade for Pakistan and also for Afghanistan and eventually for central Asian republics.

He stated that it was the job of the government to provide private sector an enabling environment which was conducive to more investment.

The prime minister has expressed his disappointment with respect to the private shipping sector in the country.

The premier pointed out: "We had come up with a new shipping policy but obviously this did not have enough in it to induce people to come and operate Pakistani flag vessels. I have asked the minister concerned to take another look at this policy, consult the stakeholders and see why we cannot or should not have more Pakistani flag vessels."

"We have entrepreneurs in the country and outside who have the strength and the capability to leverage this major opportunity because cargo traffic in Pakistan is going to increase rapidly - both imports and exports."

The premier said he saw that in the years to come there would be a gradual increase in the South Asian trade.

He urged the private sector to help the government come up with a policy which "suits their needs as well as our needs and that the tonnage of cargo on Pakistani flag vessels increases". -APP