ISLAMABAD, 05 AUG (DNA) — Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif on Wednesday welcomed the technical cooperation by Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) in Pakistan’s minerals sector, underscoring that the development of the sector was one of the government’s key priorities. He was talking to a 9-member delegation led by Jica President Dr Tanaka Akihiko that called on him at the PM House.
The prime minister said Pakistan highly valued its longstanding partnership with Japan and Jica, spanning more than seven decades.He expressed confidence that the Jica president’s visit to Pakistan would further strengthen bilateral relations between the two countries.
PM Shehbaz said that Pakistan had overcome difficult economic challenges through teamwork and was now rapidly advancing reforms aimed at achieving sustainable economic growth. He noted that, as a result of the government’s reform agenda, public revenues had doubled within just three years.
He emphasised that providing young people with skills, technical training, and dignified employment opportunities, as well as empowering women, remained among the government’s highest priorities. The prime minister said that reforms had been undertaken in the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda), transforming it into an active and effective institution to promote the growth of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs).
He added that Jica’s cooperation with Smeda would be instrumental in promoting SMEs and increasing Pakistan’s exports. The prime minister also expressed his condolences to the Jica president over the loss of precious lives in the recent earthquake in Japan. Dr Akihiko thanked PM Shehbaz for his message of condolence regarding the tragic loss of life caused by the earthquake in Japan.
He said that Jica and Pakistan shared a long history of partnership and cooperation. He affirmed that Jica was ready to further expand its cooperation with Pakistan in a range of sectors, including health, education, urban and rural development, vocational and technical training, and industrial development.
Dr Tanaka stated that cooperation would be further strengthened in line with the development priorities of Pakistan’s federal and provincial governments. He remarked that Japan, along with the broader international community, appreciates Pakistan and its leadership’s efforts to promote peace in the Middle East.
The meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Ahad Khan Cheema, Musadik Malik, Hanif Abbasi, Awais Leghari, Shaza Fatima Khawaja, Special Assistants to the Prime Minister Syed Tariq Fatemi and Haroon Akhtar, as well as senior officials from relevant government institutions. — DNA
