Tourism has doubled in Pakistan in last year: PM Imran
DAVOS: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said influx of foreign tourists had doubled in Pakistan in last year.
“Through tourism Pakistan can generate revenue, specially the foreign exchange. International firms have labelled Pakistan as top destination for tourism in 2020,” PM Imran Khan said while speaking on the topic of ‘Pakistan Strategic Dialogue’ in Davos, in the sidelines of the World Economic Forum (WEF).
He said the Pakistani land was centre of different old civilisations including the Indus Vally, 5000-year old. “Pakistan is one of the most undiscovered countries in the world. It has sacred places of Hinduism, Buddhism and Sikhism, this all is untapped. We also have a range of very less discovered mountain peaks,” he said.
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The prime minister said Pakistan was inviting foreign technical companies to come and invest in the mining sector. Pakistan had prolly one of the best gold and copper reserves, he added.
He said the investors had lost their trust after several organisations were nationalized in 70s in the country, under socialist mind-set. Now our aim is to change the socialist mind-set, he maintained.
“When we assumed power, one of the biggest challenges we had was current account deficit. Due to shortage of dollars our currency was sliding,” he said.
The PM Imran said we had a young population who needed employment and the only way we could give them employment was through bringing investment and booming industrialization.
“The government is actively incentivising the industries. The foreign investment has jumped 200 percent. The more people make profit the more investors come to your country,” he relayed.
On America’s war following 9/11, he said after the Soviet left Afghanistan, a culture of Kalashnikovs and drugs had infested into Pakistan. While Pakistan lost 70,000 lives in war on terrorism, he reminded.
“We have decided not to become a party in any international conflict now,” he said adding that Pakistan had played a part in trying to divert conflict between Iran and Saudi Arabia. Through our efforts there was a peace deal on the card in Afghanistan, he said.
