The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf. PHOTO: PID
The federal cabinet on Wednesday approved raising the minimum age of criminal responsibility in Pakistan from seven to 12 years. This does not, however, apply to those found involved in terrorist activities.
It also gave its stamp of approval to a proposal to raise the punishment in child abuse cases to life imprisonment.
In what was its last meeting, the federal cabinet approved an amendment to the already vetted Criminal Law Amendment Bill, 2013 that is now ready for legislation in future.
The meeting was chaired by Prime Minister Raja Pervaiz Ashraf.
The other decisions included a stamp of approval for the Investment Policy 2013 and Foreign Direct Investment Strategy 2013-17. The focus of the investment policy is to reduce the cost and process of doing business to make Pakistan more competitive. It proposes a liberalisation of the economy with emphasis on helping investors, protecting investment, removing regulatory impediments and fostering public-private partnerships and coordination among stakeholders.
The government has set an ambitious foreign direct investment target of $5.5 billion a year, which it hopes will be achieved by gradually adjusting priorities given the global economic slowdown, domestic energy crisis and continued pressure from fighting terrorism.
According to the draft, the new policy will be instrumental in increasing foreign direct investment (FDI) to $2 billion in 2013. This will steadily rise 25% to $2.5 billion in 2014, $2.7 billion the next year, $3.25 billion in 2016 and $4 billion in 2017. FDI will be taken to at least $5.5 billion per year, it is hoped.
The cabinet also gave its confirmation to decisions taken by its Economic Coordination Committee in meetings on March 6 and 8, 2013. It also went over the consumer price index and the trend in prices of essential commodities.
It approved negotiations for a Memorandum of Understanding between Pakistan’s Financial Monitoring Unit and Iran’s financial intelligence unit. An executive programme on cooperation in Tourism can also go ahead with Egypt. It approved, in principle, the ratification of the agreement for a joint commission between Pakistan and Niger. The cabinet also said that a deal on cooperation between the Economic Affairs Division of Pakistan and the Department of Health of South Africa can go ahead too.
The green signal was also given to negotiations for a bilateral consultation mechanism with Lithuania. The cabinet approved the signing of another MoU, between the Board of Investment of Pakistan and the Kuwait Investment Authority.
Similar approvals were accorded to MoUs between the Board of Investment of Pakistan and General Authority for Free Zones and Investment of Egypt.
Before taking up the agenda, the prime minister expressed sorrow and grief over the attack on the Christian colony in Lahore. The government would not allow anyone to take the law into their hands, he added.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 14th, 2013.
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