ISLAMABAD: State Minister for Information and Broadcasting Farrukh Habib has said that the increase in annual remittances from $18 billion to $30 billion shows confidence of overseas Pakistanis in the leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan.
Addressing a three-day overseas Pakistanis convention on Sunday, the minister said that overseas Pakistanis have always supported Imran Khan and PTI. He said they have been a source of PTI’s funds.
The minister of state said that overseas Pakistanis played a pivotal role in making Imran Khan as Prime Minister of Pakistan. He said the incumbent government has legislated for giving voting rights to overseas Pakistanis.
Habib said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has improved the image of Pakistan and increased the value of the green passport. He said that Imran Khan is leading Pakistan with an independent foreign policy. He said Imran Khan has always raised voice for peace and against wars. He said all initiatives by the government aim at providing relief to the poor class of the society.
In his remarks, Adviser on Overseas Pakistanis Muhammad Ayub Afridi said the government will introduce e-gate system to facilitate overseas Pakistanis at the time of their arrival in Pakistan. He said the government is also taking steps to introduce online facilities in Pakistan’s embassies abroad. He said with online services overseas Pakistanis will be able to obtain visas and NICOPs without visiting the embassy.
He said Roshan Digital Account has enabled overseas Pakistanis to open their bank accounts in Pakistan. The adviser urged the overseas Pakistanis to invest in Pakistan and take advantage of business friendly initiatives of the government.
Chairman National Database and Registration Authority (NADRA), Muhammad Tariq Malik said that over 8.2 million Overseas Pakistanis registered with NADRA and the government is committed to provide maximum facilities to expatriates.
He said that now all diaspora Pakistanis could get their passport online and CNIC within a short time. He informed that 20,498 employee working with NADRA, however, 760 Registration centres including 10 for Overseas Pakistanis, 10 mega centres, 222 mobile registration vans, 3 data centers and over 1000 services were provided to the people.
Tariq said that new mobile apps are under process to facilitate to the expatriates within hours including digital NICOP, passport renewal or new registration for passport, death certificate, power of attorney, Roshan digital accounts, land record, succession certificates online biometric verification for overseas family members, PIA Repatriation initiatives to ring Pakistanis back during Covid-19, Internet Voting, Complaints registration cell, he said that these were the major initiates for Overseas Pakistanis.
The State Bank reported on Thursday last that the country received record-high workers’ remittances of $20.1 billion from the expatriates in the first eight months (July-February) of the current fiscal year 2021-22, and inflows stayed above $2 billion for the 21st consecutive month. Remittances rose 7.6 percent to $20.14 billion during July-February of the fiscal year 2021-22 compared to $18.71 billion in the same period of 2020-21. The inflows rose 2 percent on a month-on-month basis to $2.19 billion in February 2022.
