RECORDER REPORT

ISLAMABAD: Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday said that no country in the world can progress without political stability and, therefore, peoples of Pakistan need to ensure it like other developed nations.

Speaking at China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) consortium closing ceremony here at National University of Science & Technology (NUST), he said, “If you have political stability and mutual respect then you can become a magnet for a better economy. No country in the world can even think of development without political stability.”

The minister said, “We are still living in 20th century with political stability in the country. Therefore, we need to learn lesson from China. We need to learn from China how it developed and got rid of poverty.”

He said, “If our young generation does not play its role for improvement of national economy, we cannot make progress.” He added that the objective of CPEC is not confined to energy generation projects but it is also meant to make big industrial zones.

Iqbal said that establishment of business to business relations is mandatory for better relations between Pakistan and China. “We need to adopt principle of Chinese development as well as to establish strong partnership between China and Pakistan,” he said.

He said that research is mandatory for promotion of business education in Pakistani and Chinese institutions. He further said that teachers of both the countries need to visit each other’s states and teach in business schools there as in future such students would be become agents of coordination.

He said that in 1980 per capita income of Pakistan was $ 300 and per capita income of China was $ 200 and “now China has left us far behind and, therefore, we need to learn from China.”

He said, “We are going to set up a university where research would be conducted on problems of this region.”