Wrong policies annoyed China in past, says PM Shehbaz Sharif

ISLAMABAD (APP) - Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif on Monday stressed that they have to make huge investments on the country’s youth because those nations had always excelled whose youth got skills and requisite degrees in different fields.

Addressing a ceremony of Prime Minister’s National Innovation Awards, the prime minister expressed his pleasure over the strides made by the country’s youth in different fields by utilizing their talents and skills.

"The country’s future is in the safe hands and they had to make investments on the youth’s talent as they direly deserved it," he added. Under Prime Minister’s National Youth Award Programme, a total of Rs 160 million were distributed among the 100 talented youths who had achieved innovative business projects.

The prime minister said that Pakistan was facing financial challenges, but he was confident that they would steer the country out of these issues.

He also expressed his gratitude to China for supporting Pakistan during the economic constraints by extending $1 billion loan facility. During the last 75 years, he opined that foreign debts proved a hefty burden upon Pakistan whereas those nations had progressed that utilized the foreign loans and returned it on the basis of their talent, honesty and skills.

“We have to get rid of these debts as they could not thrive on the foreign debts,” he said, adding the country was gifted with precious resources.

The prime minister, without naming the previous government, said that he would not go into details about the man-made crises in the past. He said the challenges were faced by the nations and stressed that they should make a promise to change fate of Pakistan without seeking foreign debts.

Referring to 1971, he said they lost one part of Quaid’s Pakistan but never learnt lessons from the past. "Leg-pulling and blame game must be ceased and all have to agree upon unified national agenda as being practiced by different countries."

“The nation has to decide upon one national agenda with salient contours for foreign and economic policies,” he reiterated.

The prime minister also regretted that words of certain personalities in the previous government had annoyed China. "Despite all this, China stood by Pakistan in difficult time," he said and lauded the role of other brotherly and friendly countries of Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates (UAE) and Qatar. "China had made a $30 billion investment in flagship China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC)."