KARACHI, Dec 4: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz announced here on Saturday that the country's economy had been put back ontrack and it was now moving in the right direction. Talking to editors and senior journalists at the Governor's House here , the prime minister said that dependence on the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had come to an end and "we will be deciding our priorities according to our needs."
On the subject of poverty alleviation, Mr Aziz agreed that a lot was needed to be done. He said rural population is more affected by poverty and to alleviate their suffering, the government would encourage farmers to avail themselves of various opportunities including micro-financing.
The prime minister said the government was also examining various measures so that the income of the farmers could be increased. This would also help stop migration from rural to urban centres in search of jobs, he added.
He said that soon after the formation of the cabinet he had given targets to all ministers and expressed the hope that it would help bring improvement in performance of various ministries and the attached departments. Mr Aziz said he would be monitoring their performance every three months. He said during his visit to Sri Lanka he talked with the Sri Lankan president on this subject who told him that the system was already being implemented successfully in Sri Lanka for the last five years.
In reply to a question about his address to the nation, the prime minister said he had presented a vision for the country and highlighted various important problems including health, law and order, water shortage, unemployment and the working of the judicial system.
He said there was no dearth of talent in the country but to bring improvement in the daily life of the people one had to provide them opportunities.
The prime minister said this year a lot of activities took place in Saarc member states and he, as current chairman, visited various member countries.
The prime minister also gave details of his visit to India and informed about his meetings with Indian leadership, businessmen and other people on various subjects.
Mr Aziz said during his stay in India he also met APHC leadership and listened to their points of view.
The prime minister said he was soon embarking on a visit to China where he would meet various government functionaries, businessmen and other people.
He said Pakistan was enjoying good relations with its neighbours and added that in the next quarter he would be visiting Iran where he would hold talks on procurement of natural gas.
About Afghanistan, the prime minister said both countries were enjoying excellent relations and added "this year we had one billion dollars' trade with Afghanistan."
He said various steps were being taken to provide job opportunities to the youth and talks on government-to-government level were also being held with various countries to export Pakistani manpower.
The prime minister, however, pointed out that there were some areas in which the country itself was facing shortage of manpower. He specially mentioned construction industry in this context.
He said that to meet the demand the government was encouraging vocational training programmes so that educated youths had better job opportunities specially in technical fields.
Regarding various problems facing Karachi, the prime minister said being a mega city, the problems were manifold but the government was working to redress them with the cooperation of the Sindh government.
Replying to a question about the Thar Coal Power Project, Mr Aziz said the plan was going on as per schedule and hoped that the agreements would be finalized soon.
Sindh Governor Dr Ishratul Ibad Khan, Adviser to Chief Minister on Information and Archives Salahuddin Haider and Sindh Information Secretary Mehtab Akbar Rashidi were also present on the occasion.-APP