Ahsan Iqbal Seeks Norwegian Support For Pakistan In Financial Action Task Force (FATF) Meeting

In the wake of role and sacrifices made by Pakistan on the fight against terrorism, Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal has called upon Norway's support at the up-coming meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris

ISLAMABAD, (UrduPoint / Pakistan Point News - 17th Feb, 2018 ) :In the wake of role and sacrifices made by Pakistan on the fight against terrorism, Minister for Interior Ahsan Iqbal has called upon Norway's support at the up-coming meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris.

He stressed that any move to place Pakistan in the "grey" list by the international community would be counterproductive and would undermine the extensive work that Pakistan had carried out under the National Action Plan to thwart extremism and terrorism, a statement received here on Saturday said.

The Minister was talking at an event organized by Embassy of Pakistan in Oslo Norway. During his one day official visit to Norway, Ahsan Iqbal interacted with a large number of Pakistani-Norwegians at the event.

Highlighting Pakistan state of economy, the Minister, who is also minister for Planning, Development and Reforms said that while a few years ago, Pakistan was considered the most dangerous place in the world, today it is ranked among the fastest emerging economies in Asia.

"Pakistan has become one of the top 5 economies in the world which have shown the highest growth rate in the last five years. He said the economic growth of the country had stagnated at 3 percent when this government came into power.

"Last year, we achieved a growth rate of 5.3 percent and we are expecting it to reach the figure of 6 percent this year, while industrial growth has significantly increased due to addition of 11,000 MW electricity to the national grid," he added.

Referring to the greatly improved law and order situation in the country, Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that until a few years Karachi had lost its status as a business and investment hub but today, target killings, land mafias and the culture of extortion were becoming a thing of the past.

More than a hundred factories had resumed operation reviving the entire economy of Karachi. Similarly, situation in Balochistan has improved due to unprecedented number of development projects initiated in the province.

He said China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a game changer as more than USD 46 billion worth of projects were being implemented of which investments worth USD 29 billion has been materialized.

Major infrastructure projects related to CPEC were being completed on schedule in line with the policy of economic integration of the region as envisioned in the Pakistan Vision 2025. Highlighting the important role of the diaspora in building Pakistan's economy, the Minister stated that foreign remittances were a lifeline for the country.

He encouraged increased foreign investment by Pakistani-Norwegians and called upon them become ambassadors of a rising Pakistan by prioritizing research for the attainment of "knowledge supremacy" and to present a forward-looking face of Pakistan to the rest of the world.

Earlier in the day, Minister Ahsan Iqbal held substantive and fruitful discussions with his Norwegian counterpart, Sylvia Listaug and State Secretary Halvorsen in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on bilateral issues.