RAWALPINDI: Federal Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan on Tuesday said the government was working on enhancing energy generation to resolve the power crisis in the country.

He said Pakistan would soon import 1,000 megawatts of electricity from Tajikistan for which talks were at the final stages.

“The electricity crisis will be resolved in 2017 and to overcome the gas shortage the first LNG terminal will be completed in Karachi in February and the second one in May,” the minister said during a visit to the Rawalpindi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (RCCI).

He said the government was trying to make a conducive environment for the business community. Policies are being finalised after taking all the stakeholders on board, he added.

The minister described the recent political instability as the main hurdle in the national development. “Political unrest, especially the sit-ins in Islamabad, badly affected the national development and destroyed the foreign investment opportunities. However, the government is still committed to facilitating the citizens.” He said the energy crisis and extremism were the biggest issues as these were creating hurdles in the national development.

The minister said the government would resolve all the problems being faced by the business community.

The government is taking the recommendations of the chambers of commerce across the country seriously to solve the problems of the business community.

He said the government also wanted to increase trade relations with neighbouring countries except India.

“Under the current situation, we cannot talk on trade enhancement with India till the situation normalises. However, the government is looking for ways to increase the trade volume with Afghanistan and the Central Asian states.”

He was hopeful that trade relations between Pakistan and Afghanistan would increase in the coming days, adding the new Afghan government was very cooperative.

Speaking on the occasion, RCCI president Syed Asad Mashhadi criticised the tax policy of the government and said the unfair tax collection system was the main hurdle in the foreign investment. “Despite formulating more policies, the government should improve the existing ones to encourage foreign and local investments and provide a secure environment to the investors.”

He said the business community always supported government’s positive stance and criticised its poor performance. He said the RCCI organised 12 single-country expos last year and was also planning the same in different countries this year. To achieve the desired results, commercial counselors in foreign missions should be appointed on merit.

RCCI senior vice-president Mian Humayun Parvez, former presidents Sheikh Shabbir, S. M. Naseem, S.M. Azeem, Najam Rehan, Manzar Khurshid and executive committee members were also present on the occasion.

Published in Dawn January 28th, 2015

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