Daily Times

Prime Minister Imran Khan on Monday chaired a meeting to mull over a strategy to bring back Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) leader Nawaz Sharif from London, a private TV channel reported.

According to reports, a meeting of the PTI and government spokespersons was chaired by the prime minister at the Parliament House, where briefings were given on the legislative process, strategy to bring back Nawaz Sharif from London and narrative of the opposition parties.

Speaking during the meeting, the prime minister said that it is the responsibility of the government to bring back people wanted by the courts. “PML-N played politics on the health issues of Nawaz Sharif,” he said, and announced that they would not be blackmailed by the tactics of the opposition parties. Imran Khan said that the prime focus of the opposition is to get rid of cases against its leadership rather than protecting the national interest. “We will use all options to bring back Nawaz Sharif,” he asserted.

The spokespersons were directed to effectively highlight the improvement in the country’s economy. “We have started receiving positive indicators regarding the economy and now our focus is to shift its advantages to the masses,” the prime minister said.

Prime Minister Imran Khan said the country’s current account balance has recorded a surplus of $424 million in July, signalling that the economy is ‘on the right track’. Hailing the development in a message on Twitter, the premier noted that in July last year, Pakistan had a current account deficit (CAD) of $613 million while last month the deficit stood at $100m. He attributed the ‘strong turnaround’ in the current account balance to record remittances and continuing recovery in exports, which rose [by] 20 per cent compared to June 2020.

According to data released by the State Bank of Pakistan (SBP) last week, the country received record-high remittances of $2.768 billion in the first month of the new fiscal year, following the record $23bn received during the outgoing financial year. “This ($2.768bn) is the highest-ever level of remittances in a single month in Pakistan,” the SBP had said.

“More good news for Pakistan’s economy,” Prime Minister Imran Khan had tweeted last week. “Remittances from overseas Pakistanis reached $2768 million in July 2020, highest ever amount in one month in the history of Pakistan.”

Meanwhile, a delegation of 10 leading Chinese companies undertaking business ventures in critical sectors including energy, communication, agriculture, science and technology, financial sector and industry called on Prime Minister Imran Khan. The Chinese investors thanked the prime minister for his personal interest in facilitating Chinese investors and business community in Pakistan. The participants expressed satisfaction over business friendly policies of the present government, especially in improving ease of doing business. They reaffirmed commitment to further expand their investments and explore more business opportunities in various sectors of the economy.

The prime minister said that Pakistan accords great importance to strengthening its relations with China. he reiterated that Pakistan and China have shared destiny. He said that strengthening of business to business ties of the people of the two countries is the foremost priority. He assured the Chinese investors that his government will accord highest priority to provision of every possible facilitation to them.