Bilateral ties: CM says social sectors being revamped

Delegation of MEPs calls on Shahbaz.

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Friday his government greatly valued the cooperation the European Union’s (EU’s) cooperation for the development of the education, health and social sectors in Pakistan.

He was speaking to a delegation of European Parliament members (MEPs). Sharif said the government had been implementing various programmes to revamp the education, health and skill-development sectors with the assistance of Great Britain. Sharif said textile exports had increased by one billion dollars in the wake of the nation being granted the GSP Plus status. Sharif said a Danish company had identified four spots in the Punjab to generate wind power.

The chief minister said the Peshawar carnage was unprecedented. He said a capable counterterrorism force had been raised in the province. Sharif said laws had been amended to make sentences more stringent. He said topics such as tolerance, peace and brotherhood were being introduced in the curricula to check extremism. Sharif said the government had been striving to generate power using renewable resources. He said every initiative taken by the government was aimed at making Pakistan a developed and peaceful nation. Sharif said the government had established the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund to provide gifted students from underprivileged backgrounds with an opportunity to continue their education.

He chaired a meeting on Friday to review liquefied natural gas (LNG) fired power plants. Sharif said plans to generate 1,000 megawatts from LNG were in the offing. Sharif said all outstanding issues in this regard should be quickly resolved to ensure the speedy initiation of power generation from LNG plants.

Sharif said that the government had fixed a target of training two million youngsters in vocational skills over the next three years.  He chaired a meeting through video link at the Civil Secretariat. Sharif said quick measures to automate the tax recovery system were the need of the hour. He said steps were being taken to promote information technology use in the Punjab. He said the government had constituted working groups to revamp four sectors. Sharif said a skilled work force would be created in accordance with the needs of the market. He said this would be done by paying special attention to vocational and technical training. The chief minister also directed the PITB to formulate a plan to promote broadband internet.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 21^st, 2015.