PM announces civil awards for overseas Pakistani investors

To recognise the role of overseas Pakistanis, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said expatriates who make notable investment in the country or who become great in the world in their fields would be awarded with civil awards.

Forming a part of an overseas Pakistani High level meeting, PM Shehbaz commended the contribution of the diaspora to enhancing Pakistan’s image worldwide. “We should not just consider overseas Pakistanis as people who remit funds; they are in fact Pakistan’s ambassadors who indeed are contributing a lot in the country in the field of medicines, education, engineering and consultancy,” he said.

Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar, Chief of Army Staff General Asim Munir, a number of federal ministers and senior officials deliberated on ways to assist overseas citizens and involve them in national development at the meeting.

Prime Minister further mentioned that the overwhelming onslaught of expatriates at Overseas Pakistanis convention was a vote of confidence in government ventures. He expressed gratitude for their ‘sincerity, patritism and sacrifices.’

However, he further said that overseas Pakistanis sending highest remittances through official channels or achieving best in their fields internationally will be considered for civil awards. The project intends to motivate the global Pakistani community to remain engaged and invested in the country.

The government is also working to provide streamlined investment opportunities in the sectors in which overseas Pakistanis can make their contribution on the basis of their professional expertise. On the occasion, PM Shehbaz reiterated that every effort to sort out expatriate issues on priority was being undertaken by the government.

Under the ongoing plan, the government is still reviewing and putting in place new policies to further the relationship with Pakistanies abroad and to enable them to make a contribution to national development.