ISLAMABAD, Aug. 14 (Xinhua) -- Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari said Friday that Pakistan is poised to serve as a regional hub of economic activities due to its strategic location in the area.
He made the remarks at the formal inauguration of liquid cargo terminal at southern Pakistan's Port Qasim. The President said that Pakistan should not be seen only as a large market of 180 million people, but also seen as a hub of economic activities and other adjacent markets.
With 1.2 billion population market on its right and more than 1billion in up north and large market of Central Asian Republic in the east, the country is poised to serve as a regional hub and the nearest port to these countries, Zardari said.
Pakistani ports network offers the shortest possible distance to China, Central Asia and other neighbors and the work on regional pipeline for gas is also on to serve as energy corridor up to central China from Pakistani ports, the president added.
Zardari said that in the next couple of years Pakistan would enhance its per acre yield by three to five times with the help of new high yielding seeds from China and also seed indigenisation.
He suggested the capital market players to raise funds at stock exchanges in local currency instead of borrowing in foreign currencies. The government was already working on this idea and Finance Minister and his team was preparing a paper in this regard.