Greater transparency: PM Nawaz vows reforms before 2018

Says expats are building ties with Riyadh

MADINAH:

Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif announced on Thursday that his party in consultation with other groups plans to introduce electoral reforms ahead of the 2018 parliamentary election

“God-willing, the 2018 elections would be free of all the weaknesses of the past,” he told Pakistani expatriate workers in the holy city of Madinah.

With the holding of Senate elections, the premier said, another phase of the democratic process has been accomplished. ”Our government believes in strengthening and ensuring the sanctity of the democratic institutions,” he added.

PM Nawaz while lauding the role of Pakistani expatriates in Saudi Arabia said Islamabad and Riyadh enjoy deep rooted and historical ties since the inception of Pakistan.

The prime minister said the relations between the two countries have further strengthened in the recent past, and the basis of it was the love, affection and respect which the two countries’ people have for each other. “Every Pakistani has a lot of love and respect for Saudi Arabia.”

He said it was a matter of pride for over two million Pakistani expatriates in Saudi Arabia that they were working in their second home and were sending remittances of around $4.75 billion to their homeland annually. “The government is proud of you who are contributing  to  the development and progress of Saudi Arabia through your capabilities,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 6^th, 2015.