Our weapons meant to promote peace: PM Nawaz

KARACHI: Prime Minister Muhammad Nawaz Sharif has said that Pakistan has been against the weapons’ race in the region and such a trend should be discouraged. “Our weapons of war” are used only to promote peace, he said.

The prime minister declared this while addressing the inauguration ceremony of the 9th International Defence Exhibition and Seminar (IDEAS)-2016 at the Expo Centre, Karachi. The ceremony was attended by chiefs of the three armed forces, Sindh Chief Minister Syed Murad Ali Shah, Defence Minister Kawaja Muhammad Asif, Federal Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, other senior civil and military officials and representatives of foreign delegations participating in the international arms expo.The PM said on the occasion that Pakistan had been emerging fast on the international scene of defence production as IDEAS had gained recognition on the international scene and it was a clear evidence to this effect. 

He said the weapons of defence produced by Pakistan had proved their worth and capability in the international markets.He said that recurrence of incidents of terrorism in Pakistan had phenomenally decreased. He said that at present Pakistan had abundance of foreign capital while there were widened prospects of doing trade and launching joint business ventures. He said at present the rate of interest in Pakistan had been at the lowest level.

He invited all the prospective foreign investors to invest in all sectors in Pakistan as the present government would provide the maximum possible privileges along with provision of friendly environment for doing business.The prime minister said that his government had the complete resolve to stabilise the economy of the country while the government had also been actively working to develop the social sector. He said that Pakistan presented more opportunities of doing profitable investment. He said that Pakistan had also been doing investment to develop its industry for defence production.

He said the GDP growthrate of Pakistan had increased to 4.71pc and this rate would be further increased. He said the rating of Pakistan had been improved under the classification done by international financial institutions. He said that the GDP growth rate of the country would be increased to five per cent by the end of the present financial year 2016-17.

He said that international financial institutions had acknowledged the economic development secured by Pakistan as credit rating of the country had been improved by global agencies. Nawaz Sharif said the energy crisis persisting in Pakistan was being overcome as the situation in the energy sector of the country had improved due to the efforts of the government. He said that power loadshedding had not been done in industrial sector of the country for the last 12 months.He said IDEAS had secured its position at the global level and that was why over 2,000 weapons of war had been put on display at the latest IDEAS-2016. He said that Pakistan had upgraded its capacity and standard of doing defence production. He said that Pakistan had been exchanging technologies with other interested countries for manufacturing of weapons.He said India's refusal to attend the 19th meeting of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) hurt the efforts for regional peace and violated the SAARC Charter. The president reiterated that Afghanistan was a close neighbour and a brotherly country and its stability and prosperity were necessary not only for the region but also for Pakistan.

About the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project, he said the whole region would hugely benefit from the initiative. President Mamnoon said the efforts by Pakistani experts in defence production were for regional peace. "We want that by maintaining balance of power, regional stability, development and prosperity be ensured," he added.

He said the IDEAS 2016 was a milestone towards achieving those objectives, which gained international recognition in a very short period. "We are proud of our scientists and technical experts who have produced the most effective sophisticated and low cost weapons of international standards."

"We want to invite our friends and the world community to join these endeavours through joint ventures and investment. Our this offer would be very beneficial for the economy of regional peace."

Federal Minister for Defence Production Rana Tanveer Hussain, armed forces chiefs, Director General Defence Export Promotion Organisation (DEPO) Maj Gen Agha Masood Akram, parliamentarians and a large of delegates attended the seminar.