KARACHI: A group of 19 junior diplomats from 14 countries called on Chief Secretary Syed Mumtaz Ali Shah here on Friday at Chief Minister House.

The group is attending the 27th Junior Diplomatic Cou­rse at the Foreign Ser­vice Academy. The course parti­cipants are from Comoros, Equatorial Guinea, Ghana, Guinea, Iran, Madagascar, Maldives, Mali, Mauritania, Mauritius, Nepal, Nigeria, Palestine and Tunisia.

The chief secretary said that the investment environment in Sindh is turning conducive due to the steps taken by the Sindh government to restore law and order in the province. He further stated that Sindh is rich in natural resources of coal, wind corridor, coastal belt and the agricultural system.

“Sindh government is setting up many Special Economic Zones (SEZs),” he said. “In addition to these, we have given a free hand to the private sector to set up their own SEZs where the government will help in legal matters, land acquisition and provision of utilities.”

Sindh’s public private partnership is a successful model and the province is producing 660MW electricity from the Thar coal. He further stated that the provincial government has allocated Rs284 billion for roads, water and sanitation and other development projects of the province in the current financial year.

Briefing the participants regarding security situation of the province, Home Secretary Dr Mohammad Usman Chachar said that security situation in the province had much improved compared to 2013 when Karachi was in the list of six most dangerous cities of the world.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2019