ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has underscored the need for enhancing bilateral economic relations between Pakistan and Uzbekistan through early conclusion of a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA).
In a telephonic conversation with Uzbekistan’s President Shavkat Mirziyoyev on Friday, the prime minister underlined the importance of realising full potential in diverse areas to achieve common goals and objectives.
The prime minister hoped that peace and stability in Afghanistan would help advance the connectivity agenda leading to regional prosperity.
The Uzbek president accepted the prime minister’s invitation to visit Pakistan, which would further boost existing bilateral cooperation in various fields including economic and trade relations between the two countries.
He discussed bilateral relations and expressed satisfaction over the pace and momentum.
Sindh Development Plan:
Separately, while chairing a high-level meeting to review implementation on the Rs444 billion Sindh Development Plan, Imran directed for expediting the pace of work on the projects.
The prime minister said that under the Sindh Development Plan of the federal government, the uplift of 14 districts is a priority, adding the objective is to improve the socio-economic status of the residents of Sindh.
He directed that priority must be given to less-developed and rural areas of Sindh to ensure prosperity.
He regretted that the previous governments ignored the development of Sindh.
The prime minister directed the concerned departments to fast-track work on Hyderabad-Sukkur Motorway and construction of sports complexes in Badin, Ghotki, Thar, Mirpur Khas, Tando Muhammad Khan, Hyderabad and Sanghar.
He also stressed transparency, quality of work and adherence to timelines while implementing Sindh Development Plan.
The Sindh Development Plan includes projects related to roads and motorways, housing, information technology and telecom, water resources, health, higher education, vocational training, disaster management, railways, energy and establishment of sports facilities.
The meeting was informed that overall the Sindh Development Plan comprises 48 Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP) projects, 50 non-PSDP projects and seven public-private partnership projects.
The government has approved 26 new PSDP projects and allocated financial resources for fiscal year 2021-22. An amount of Rs16.304 billion has been authorised by the Planning Commission for eight federal government divisions and organisations.
Separately, the prime minister also chaired a meeting of PTI leaders on Friday.
According to a news outlet, Minister for Information and Broadcasting Fawad Chaudhry briefed the PM on the progress of the committee formed to probe PML-N Vice President Maryam Nawaz’s admission that she was running the party’s media cell.
Imran questioned: “In what capacity was [PML-N Vice President] Maryam Nawaz running the then government’s media cell?”
The PM observed that the PML-N tried to create a division in the media.
“They accuse us of trying to curb the media while they themselves stood exposed now,” he stated.
