ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan said on Monday that the government was committed to creating more facilities for domestic businesses to make their products more competitive for exports. He was speaking here at the 42nd Export Trophy Awards distribution ceremony of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). The PM stressed that policies to promote wealth creation and facilitate businesses were inevitable for increasing exports and reducing trade deficit. He said the government would introduce fundamental reforms to restructure the economy and strengthen domestic industry. Special attention was being given to facilitate Small and Medium Enterprises (SMEs) while more facilities would be provided to the exporters, he said. Khan cited examples of Singapore and Malaysia which had export volumes of $330 billion and $220 billion, respectively, despite having small populations. On the contrary Pakistan, with a population of 21 billion, had just $24 billion exports, he said, adding, “The fault lies with our mindset as we have never thought to devise such policies for making money through legal means and not profiteering.” He said the time had come to take stock of the mistakes committed in the past and cope with the series of failures. He asked the bureaucracy to change their mindset and create easiness for businessmen and industrialists as it would bring prosperity in the country. The prime minister said when the present government came into power four months back his attention was focused on foreign exchange reserves. All the government’s efforts and policies would start bearing fruits gradually, he said. Khan told the gathering that his administration had decided to establish exclusive offices at the PM’s Office to handle issues related to ease of doing business. He said he was committed to enhancing interaction with the business community to take their input and to know the impact of the government policies. Separately, the PM said his party had formed the government as a result of an organised and effective movement whose objectives were to ensure public welfare, progress and economic prosperity of the country. He said such objectives had also burdened the elected public representatives with huge responsibility to work for their achievement. The Prime Minister was talking to elected members of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf and its allied parties from Faisalabad and Gujranwala divisions here at the PM’s Office. Special Assistant to the PM on Political Affairs Naeemul Haq was also present. The elected members apprised the Prime Minister about public issues, development projects, job opportunities for the youth and skilled, issues confronted by small entrepreneurs and proposals for ensuring equitable profit to the farmers. During the meeting, the participants also apprised the Prime Minister about lawyers’ demand for the establishment of a high court bench in Faisalabad. The Prime Minister observed that Faisalabad had been an important industrial city and regretted that in the past, no attention was paid to its uplift and resolution of public issues. He assured the legislators that the Punjab Chief Minister would be directed to resolve issues of their constituencies after holding meetings with them and seeking consultation with the local leadership. The Prime Minister also directed the elected members to ensure implementation of public welfare and social uplift projects and assured his cooperation in the establishment of the high court bench. He also constituted a seven-member committee comprising members of the national and provincial assemblies from the Faisalabad Division for resolution of all public issues in the region. The meeting was attended by Chaudhry Muhammad Asim Nazir, Nawab Shair, Raza Nasrullah Ghuman, Khurram Shahzad, Farrukh Habib, Faizullah, Riaz Ahmed, Riaz Fatyana, Mohammad Mehboob Sultan, Mohammad Amir Sultan, Ghulam Bibi Bharwana, Syed Faizul ul Hassan, Haji Imtiaz Ahmed Chaudhry, Chaudhry Shaukat Ali Bhatti, Tashfeen Safdar Chaudhry and Wajih Akram. Published in Daily Times, December 18th2018.