LAHORE: Punjab Governor Malik Rafique Rajwana said on Friday that the present government was heading in the right direction of progress and prosperity.
He was addressing the SAFA Conference 2016 ‘South Asia: Corridor of Opportunities’ jointly organized by South Asian Federation of Accountants (SAFA) and Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP).
Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms, Prof. Ahsan Iqbal, the SAFA President Naeem Akhtar Sheikh, the ICAP President Hafiz Muhammad Yousaf, former SBP Governor Yaseen Anwar and large number of chartered accountants from Pakistan and other South Asian states attended the conference.
The governor said that the government is achieving success in overcoming energy crisis, maintaining peace in the country especially the port city of Karachi, and Zarb-e-Azb operation is another hallmark of the government and the Pakistan Armed Force. He stressed the need for restoration of peace in the region.
Welcoming the foreign and local delegates to Punjab, he said that conference would prove to be very helpful in improving the CAs efficiency.
He said ‘With globalization and continuous changes in the world’s economy, the holding of such conference for exchange of viewpoints was need of the hour for future progress and success.’
As a keynote speaker, Federal Minister Ahsan Iqbal stressed the need for improving relations among all South Asian states to attain regional integration.
He elaborated that just like European Union (EU) and ASEAN, South Asian countries would have to get united and improve their mutual cooperation and trust for regional integration.
He said that the 21st century is the age of integration and fast global change. “It is up to us, how we can become beneficiary of this change instead of becoming its victim.”
Ahsan Iqbal said that South Asia hosts one-fourth of the global and 40 percent of the Asia’s population and even then this region is much underdeveloped and 40 percent of world’s poverty resides here.
Similarly, the South Asia’s intra-regional trade is mere five percent against 25 percent of ASEN bloc (Association of South East Asian Nations), he said and asserted that South Asian states would also have to remove trade barriers and establish mutual trust to attain the goal of collective progress and prosperity.
The minister said that China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) projects are underway speedily and today Pakistan is poised for betterment, asserting that the CPEC is transforming Pak-China relations from geo-political to geo-economic relation and creating vast opportunities in every sector of economy.
Pakistan is persuading the China’s ‘One Road-One Belt’ project as the CPEC is one of the components of this mega project that would connect South Asia with Central Asia and Europe, he maintained.
He said that regional integration of Pakistan and China under the CPEC is creating much more opportunities for development and prosperity then one can easily perceive that how much opportunities and benefits the people of South Asia will be reaping after integration of the entire region.
He said that since most of the Chartered Accountants are working abroad, therefore they are the Ambassador of Pakistan, adding the CAs must play their effective role in development and process of Pakistan and the region.
At the end, the Governor gave away a shield to Ahsan Iqbal while the President ICAP presented shield to the governor as mementos to the conference.
