Shehbaz Sharif says sincere efforts are underway to revive economy n Coalition govt's one year marks success story of overcoming tough challenges n Visits free wheat flour distribution points in Lahore, Faisalabad.

ISLAMABAD/LAHORE/FAISALABAD     -     Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday said the completion of the one-year of coalition government marked a successful tenure that resulted in Pakistan's restored credibility, and overcoming of the country's financial and energy challenges. 

"I can inform people that over the last one year, we have largely succeeded in establish­ing Pakistan's credibility as a partner and friend," he wrote in a Twitter thread. PM Sharif said, "Today marks the com­pletion of one year since I took oath as PM of a coalition government. This has been a time of massive challenges and difficulties.

"It was a long jour­ney, but sustained ef­forts made it possible," he said. Sharif re­called that the passage of no-confidence vote against former prime minister Imran Khan Niazi's government was unprecedented.

"[It was unprecedent­ed] not because the Pakistan Democratic Movement (PDM) came into power, but because almost all of Pakistan's political forces came to­gether to use the forum of parliament to vote out an unpopular govt through constitutional means," he said. 

The prime minister said the coming togeth­er of political parties with different mani­festos for a common national cause repre­sented a "major step forward in the country's political evolution". 

"Reconciliation and cooperation, instead of confrontation and ven­detta marked the new politics post-April '22," he said. 

He said despite the economic landmines laid by Imran Khan and the disruptions in glob­al fuel and food supply lines, Pakistan's econ­omy continued to stay afloat. 

"All predictions of de­fault turned out to be false alarms. Sincere ef­forts are underway to revive the economy," he said. Sharif said the co­alition government has been at pains to repair, rebuild and deepen Pa­kistan's diplomatic re­lations that were dealt a severe blow by the 'Nia­zi regime'. 

He said Pakistan faced unprecedented floods last year. The decisiveness with which the government undertook res­cue, relief and rehabilitation ef­forts, provided social protection to millions of people and mobi­lized international community has been acknowledged by the world as outstanding, he added.

He mentioned that the gov­ernment employed climate di­plomacy to present Pakistan’s case on the international stage. 

“As Chair of G77 plus China, we were instrumental in the es­tablishment of loss and damage fund. Pledges of US$ 9 billion at Geneva moot are evidence of our successful diplomacy,” he said. He said in the last one year, the coalition government made efforts to diversify the en­ergy mix with the aim to pro­vide relief to the citizens. 

“The renewed focus on solar, hydel, and coal power projects is aimed at replacing the costli­er sources of power generation with cheaper ones,” he said. 

The prime minister point­ed out that inflation hit peo­ple hard globally, adding that geo-strategic rivalries, increase in prices of fuel and food com­modities and historic floods are some of the key factors respon­sible for inflation. 

“Mindful of its impact, the government has expanded the social safety net and provided targeted subsidies,” he said.

He said under the watch of the PDM government, Paki­stan managed to exit the Finan­cial Action Task Force’s grey list, thanks to the excellent in­ter-ministerial coordination as well as support extended by the military leadership. 

He said building on the public transport infrastructure, gov­ernment, since its inception in April last year, focused on ear­ly completion of the develop­ment and transport infrastruc­ture projects in Islamabad. 

“Idea was to provide ease, comfort and affordable mobili­ty to the people,” he said. ‘Free flour distribution process’ 

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday ar­rived in Faisalabad to review the arrangements at different points, set up for the distribu­tion of free flour among deserv­ing people.

During the visit, the prime minister interacted with the people, gathered there to re­ceive free Atta bags under PM’s Special Ramazan Package for the poor. He enquired about the distribution arrangements and also witnessed the process.

Minister for Interior Rana Sanaullah, Minister for Infor­mation and Broadcasting Marri­yum Aurangzeb and the relevant authorities also accompanied the prime minister. The people, especially the old women, ex­pressed their joy and satisfac­tion over visit of the prime min­ister. Meanwhile, Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Tuesday visited various points set up in Lahore for the distri­bution of free flour (Atta) bags to the needy and reviewed the overall arrangements. 

The prime minister on the oc­casion interacted with the peo­ple, gathered at the points to re­ceive free Atta bags under the PM’s Special Ramazan Pack­age for the poor. He expressed satisfaction over the arrange­ments made for the distribu­tion of flour bags. He also in­quired about the problems and issues from the people and him­self distributed the flour bags among them.