The National Assembly (NA) Speaker Asad Qaiser has said that Pakistan believed that relations with the United States (US) should be based on equality.
He said that the Parliament of Pakistan was committed to build strong parliamentary links with US, neighbouring countries and the entire region for enhanced cooperation on the economic front.
He assured that he would discuss the problems confronted by the business community with finance minister and commerce minister. He expressed these views while addressing the first Pak-US Business Opportunity Conference, held in Islamabad on Monday.
The NA speaker said that it was widely acknowledged that national prosperity, sustainable development and quality of life of a common man heavily depends on the business fraternity working side by side with the government.
He said that despite all challenges, the business community has significantly contributed to the social-economic development of the country. He said that all the developmental challenges and national issues can be adequately tackled by taking an inclusive approach.
The NA speaker said that due to flawed political instability, chaos and terrorism the national economy has been badly affected. “In the terror-hit areas of the country, routine business activities cannot be carried out,” he added.
He said that despite all challenges, the country managed a significant breakthrough on economic and political front as well as against the terrorism. He said that due to the confidence of civilian leadership in the efforts of our security forces, the war on terror had borne fruits and the business environment was more productive for local and international investment.
He said that CPEC would help to end power outages in Pakistan and ensure connectivity between China, South Asia and Central Asia. He expressed optimism that CPEC would open new vistas of development for Pakistan and the entire region.
The speaker said that despite tensed relations between Pakistan and United States, it was encouraging sign that the volume of trade between the two countries had touched new height. “Textile, tourism and agriculture industry have a huge untapped potential,” he said.
He invited the US investors to invest in Pakistan and assured all kind of facilitations and support to them. He hoped that bilateral business and investment ventures would help in the betterment of bilateral relations between the two countries.