Daily Times

As the country continues to grapple with the economic crisis, the federal government has decided to set up a body to ensure policy predictability and effective implementation to revive the economy, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said on Wednesday.

“Employing a whole-of-the-the-government approach, the coalition government has decided to set up a Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) with a mandate to frame economic policies that ensure policy predictability, continuity & effective implementation to revive the economy,” PM Shehbaz Sharif wrote in an extensive tweet.

Shehbaz said that the decision to form the economic body had been taken in light of a “unified approach” to steer the country out of the economic storm that he had been advocating. “By virtue of its composition, the SIFC will serve as a top decision-making forum to push through fundamental reforms in the structure of the economy.

“To begin with, the forum will focus on leveraging key sectors such as IT, agriculture, energy, minerals and mining, and defence production,” the premier said.

He explained that one of the key goals of the SIFC was attracting investment from friendly countries, with the immediate task of boosting the Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) to $5 billion.

PM Shehbaz went on to say that the scale of economic challenges owing to internal and external factors demanded a representative forum like the SIFC. “The textbook approach to deal with a unique set of problems is not workable anymore. Hence all the more reason to leverage collective wisdom to kick-start the economy to make it self-reliant, export-driven, and robust, capable of withstanding external shocks and upheavals,” he said, adding that creative ideas offered the solution to our economic problems. Later, the federal government constituted the ‘Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) and a notification in this regard was issued by the PM Office.

“Pursuant to the meeting held on Friday, 2nd June, 2023 with regard to attracting investment from GCC countries in the fields of defence, agriculture, minerals, IT and energy, the prime minister has been pleased to constitute ‘Special Investment Facilitation Council’ (SIFC),” the notification read.

As per the notification, the SIFC is a three-tier composition having an apex, executive committee and implementation committees.

The apex body will have the prime minister, federal ministers (planning, finance, IT & Telecom, food security, power, water resources, industries and production, defence, defence production and investment), chief of the army staff, all chief ministers, national coordinator (Pakistan Army) and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister shall act as Secretary to the body. However, the executive committee will consist of the planning minister, national coordinator (Pakistan Army), federal ministers (defence, food security, IT & Telecom and Power), state ministers (petroleum and finance), provincial ministers (agriculture, mines and minerals, IT, energy, Board of Revenue, irrigation, finance, planning and development and investment), SAPM, chief secretaries, director general (Pakistan Army), secretary Board of Investment.

Meanwhile, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday arrived here on an official visit to attend the New Global Financing Pact Summit, on the invitation of French President Emmanuel Macron.

As the prime minister landed at the Paris Airport along with his delegation, he was warmly received by Pakistan’s ambassador in France and diplomatic officials, besides senior French government authorities.

Federal ministers Sherry Rehman, Sardar Ayaz Sadiq and Marriyum Aurangzeb, and Special Assistant to the PM Tariq Fatemi are part of the prime minister’s entourage. During the visit, the prime minister will attend the New Global Financing Pact Summit being hosted by France and participated by heads of state and delegates from over 50 countries. Prime Minister Shehbaz will also join the world leaders at the dinner reception hosted by the French president for the participating dignitaries. During the visit, the prime minister will also hold bilateral meetings with different heads of state.