Federal Minister for Interior, Planning, Development & Reforms Ahsan Iqbal, on a one-day official visit to Norway,interacted with a large number of Pakistani-Norwegians at an event organized by the Embassy . Highlighting that Pakistan was on the path of rapid economic development, the Minister said that while a few years ago, Pakistan was considered the most dangerous place in the world, today it is ranked among the fastest emerging economies in Asia. "Pakistan has become one of the top 5 economies in the world which have shown the highest growth rate in the last five years. The economic growth of the country had stagnated at 3% when this Government came into power. Last year, we achieved a growth rate of 5.3% and we are expecting it to reach the figure of 6% this year." Industrial growth had significantly increased due to addition of 11,000 MW electricity to the national grid, says a press release from Oslo here today. Referring to the greatly improved law and order situation in the country, Minister Ahsan Iqbal said that until a few years Karachi had lost its status asa business and investment hub but today, target killings, land mafias and the culture of extortion were becoming a thing of the past. More than a hundred factories had resumed operation reviving the entire economy of Karachi. Similarly, it situation in Balochistan had improved due to unprecedented number of development projects initiated in the province. CPEC was a gamechanger as more than USD 46 billion worth of projects were being implemented of which investments worth USD 29 billion has been materialized. Major infrastructure projects related to CPEC were being completed on schedule in line with the policy of economic integration of the region as envisioned in the Pakistan Vision 2025. Highlighting the important role of the diaspora in building Pakistan’s economy, the Minister stated that foreign remittances were a lifeline for the country. He encouraged increased foreign investment by Pakistani-Norwegians and called upon them become ambassadors ofa rising Pakistan by prioritizing research for the attainment of "knowledge supremacy" and to present a forward-looking face of Pakistan to the rest of the world. Earlier in the day, Minister Ahsan Iqbal held substantive and fruitful discussions with his Norwegian counterpart, Sylvia Listaug and State Secretary Halvorsen in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on bilateral issues. Highlighting the role and sacrifices made by Pakistan on the fight against terrorism, the Minister called upon Norway’s support at the upcoming meeting of the Financial Action Task Force (FATF) in Paris. He stressed that any move to place Pakistan in the “grey” list by the international community would be counterproductive and would undermine the extensive work that Pakistan had carried out under the National Action Plan to thwart extremism and terrorism. ***
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