LAHORE: Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal said on Saturday that Pakistan has been included in Emerging Market Index and the world is seeing Pakistan as emerging economy.

Addressing a ceremony in Lahore, Iqbal said that international financial institutions have acknowledged the national economy and international business firms are showing keen interest to invest here.

“The incumbent government has made the effective policies to put the national economy on the path to progress,” said Iqbal adding that positive attitude and political stability are imperative to ensure economic progress and development.

Referring to the LNG deal with Qatar, the minister said work on 3,600MW LNG power projects is also in progress and the electricity generated by these projects would be added to the national grid.

He said the government is utilizing coal reservoirs of Thar and soon the power generation project will start to benefit the county.

Referring to CPEC, Ahsan Iqbal said China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) is a golden chance to change the destiny of the country.

He further said that the importance of CPEC could not be minimized and work on various energy projects under CPEC is underway which would help overcome electricity crisis.