Provinces, concerned stakeholders & coalition parties should be taken into confidence, while including development projects in budget: PM Shehbaz

ISLAMABAD, June 02 (SABAH): Prime Minister Mian Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has directed to allocate special funds for Information Technology, agriculture, and renewable energy sectors in the upcoming budget under the Public Sector Development Programme (PSDP).

PM Shehbaz Sharif gave these directions, while chairing a meeting in Islamabad on Friday regarding the budgetary proposals. The meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Ahsan Iqbal Chaudhry, Rana Sanaullah Khan, Khawaja Muhammad Asif, Rana Tanveer Hussain, Advisor to PM on Establishment Ahad Khan Cheema, SAPMs Malik Muhammad Ahmed Khan, Ataullah Tarar Advocate, Jehanzeb Khan and other high officials.

Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also instructed to allocate special funds for different schemes of youth in the next year’s PSDP.

He emphasized on taking measures for the provision of higher education, professional training and employment opportunities to the youth.

The Prime Minister advised that provision of free laptop should be made part of the budget to equip talented students with the modern IT skills.

Regarding the agriculture sector, the Prime Minister directed to continue the projects initiated under the ‘Kissan Package’. Talking about the energy sector, he said renewable energy projects should be made part of the budget, and special funds be reserved to bring innovation in the hydel and other energy projects.

He said that provinces, concerned stakeholders, and coalition parties should be taken into confidence, while including development projects in the budget and their proposals should also be given priority.

Besides, the Prime Minister also instructed to give priority to the projects focusing on the provision of alternative for imports, enhancing exports and brining innovation to various sectors in the upcoming budget.