PakIndia friendship can bring peace in region:Shahbaz Sharif

Lahore:Punjab Chief Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif has said that good neighborly relations will have to be promoted for a durable peace in South Asia. He said that there is a need to create an atmosphere of tolerance and peaceful coexistence for rooting out poverty and ignorance from this region so that the peoples of India and Pakistan could achieve those objectives of progress and prosperity which were envisioned by the founders of the two countries in 1947.
He was talking to Indian delegation led by Indian expatriate American businessman Krishana Kumar which is on a visit to Lahore. MNA & former Chief Minister Sardar Mehtab Ahmed Khan, Secretary Energy, Secretary Higher Education and Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board were also present on the occasion.

 Talking to the Indian delegation, the Chief Minister said that as the prominent countries of South Asia, it is the joint responsibility of both India and Pakistan to strive for peace and prosperity in the region so that the sub-continent could be known in the world for its progress and social welfare. He said that exchange of delegations at the people’s level is of vital importance for promoting bilateral relations and harmonious neighbourly ties. He said that contact at public level will also help the peoples of the two countries to understand each others’ point of view as well as developing a realization that poverty and ignorance is the common misfortune of the people of this region and national resources will have to be spent generously for getting rid of this problem. He said that there is a growing awareness in both the countries that they will have to live as peaceful neighbours as it is in their common interest.

 The Chief Minister while referring to the strategy adopted by the provincial government for achieving the targets of economic development, agricultural self-sufficiency and public welfare said that economic self reliance and raising the living standard of the masses is the priority of his government. He said that besides utilization of development funds on the provision of better health and educational facilities to the masses, the standard of services of the government institutions has also been improved. He said that Punjab is facing energy crises in order to cope with this problem, the government has evolved a comprehensive roadmap for increasing power production and investment by private sector is being fully encouraged for this purpose. He said that the academic potential of the young generation is being fully promoted through information technology so that rapid development of digital technology could be utilized for the promotion of good governance. He further said that besides modernizing public transport, the other sectors of public welfare are also being improved.

Secretary Energy and Chairman Punjab Information Technology Board informed the meeting about the process of the reforms in energy and information technology sectors in the province.