KARACHI: Chief Minister Syed Qaim Ali Shah has said that the Sindh government is fighting against terrorism and the law and order situation has improved considerably because of the targeted operation and National Action Plan against terrorists.

Saying that all diplomats, national and foreign investors were being provided foolproof security, the chief minister invited investors from the Netherlands, Spain and other European countries to avail of the potential investment opportunities in Sindh for which they would be provided full security and other incentives.

The chief minister stated this while holding separate meetings with Teannette Seppen, ambassador of the Netherlands and Spain Ambassador Carlos Morales, who called on him at CM House on Monday.

Condemning the terrorist attacks in Paris, the chief minister said terrorists were common enemies of humanity and “we must eliminate this menace under joint efforts”. “We are seriously fighting against terrorists for which we have raised the budget of the Sindh police by more than 100 per cent. We’ve got our police officers trained in developed countries and created a Rapid Response Force to combat terrorists.”

He said the performance of Pakistan’s intelligence agencies could be gauged from the fact that suspects in the Safoora Chowk bus carnage were detected within a month. Similarly, other high-profile incidents were also traced out in short periods.

Referring to the bilateral relations, the chief minister said: “We have good relations with the Netherlands and we want to further promote them, especially on the cultural and economic side.

We are facing deficiency in energy and a shortage of water which have hit our economy. We have indigenous resources to solve both our problems with efficient investment and technology from advanced countries.”

He said there were huge reserves of coal and a good potential wind corridor, having a capacity to generate 50,000 megawatts of electricity, but at present “we are generating only 200mw”.

He said investment in that sector was being made both by national and foreign investors, and gradually “we will get more and more power from this sector”.

The chief minister said that despite a water shortage, Sindh was in surplus production in cotton, rice, wheat, sugar cane and fruits. And by using modern technology in cultivation and irrigation, “we can get more production from the agriculture sector. He said Karachi was a very important city where besides the seaports more than 60 per cent industries were situated. “We need foreign investment and expertise to solve our transport problem in Karachi as well.”

Ambassador of the Netherlands Teannette Seppen said her country had expertise in the energy, water and transport sectors and was keen to enhance “our bilateral relations, specially on economic and cultural side”.

Published in Dawn, November 17th, 2015