Shaukat Tarin, Advisor to Prime Minister on Finance said that the government’s flagship project Kamyab Jawan Program (KJP) would bring grassroots revolution in Pakistan and pave the way for making Pakistan a welfare state. He said this while addressing a Kamyab Jawan Convention organized by Kamyab Jawan in collaboration with Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry at ICCI. He distributed cheques of business loans and certificate of skills training among the youngsters at the occasion.
Shaukat Tarin said that many resource deficient countries like Japan have achieved phenomenal economic growth by focusing on human resource development and the Prime Minister’s vision was to promote youth to drive Pakistan on a sustainable growth trajectory. He said that KJP was a complete package to promote youth in entrepreneurship, skill development and other fields. He said that the Kamyab Kisan Program would also be launched soon as the government was focusing on promotion of agriculture and SMEs. He said that these programs would help in reviving the lost economic glory of Pakistan. He said that in future, there would be only 2 taxes i.e. income tax and consumption tax while all other taxes would be abolished. He assured that the government would resolve the difficulties of traders on tax matters and no harassment of taxpayers would be allowed. However, he said that the tax-to-GDP ratio would have to be increased to at least 20 percent for improving the living standard of people.
PM’s Special Assistant for Youth Affairs Usman Dar highlighted the key features of Kamyab Jawan Program, which provided business loans ranging from Rs.100,000 to Rs.25 million. He said that an amount of Rs.100 billion has been earmarked for providing business loans to youth out of which loans of Rs.30 billion have been approved for 22000 youngsters and the remaining amount would also be approved soon. He said that KJP has created 50,000 jobs and the skills for all program has 60-70 percent employability ratio, which shows its success. He thanked ICCI, NAVTTC and other institutions including banks for their cooperation in KJP.
In his welcome address, Muhammad Shakeel Munir, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (ICCI) appreciated the launch of KJP to promote youth and assured that ICCI would fully cooperate to make it successful. He said that the youth was the most precious asset of the country and focusing on youth entrepreneurship would drive Pakistan towards fast economic growth besides reducing the unemployment issue. He said that the government should address the concerns of traders on tax matters including installation of POS, digital payments, bank accounts attachments and sharing of taxpayers’ data by NADRA with FBR. He said that the Advisor to PM on Finance should visit major chambers of commerce starting from ICCI for consultation on budget proposals before finalizing the next budget. Jamshaid Akhtar Sheikh, Senior Vice President ICCI thanked the chief guest and all participants.