RIYADH: FIFA President Gianni Infantino has lauded Pakistan’s PM Shehbaz Sharif for transformative development in the country.
During the ninth edition of the Future Investment Initiative in Riyadh, attended by top world leaders, the FIFA president said “What you are doing with your country is transformative. I can only take my hat off.”
Infantino said that “Alongside your investments in technology, schools, and hospitals, we must also invest in happiness, and football is one of the best ways to bring people together.”
PM Shehbaz Sharif
It is worth mentioning here that Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif urged the global north to develop synergy and unity with the global south for the transfer of technology and resource sharing for ensuring shared prosperity of humanity bracing adverse impacts of climate change and environmental degradation.
The prime minister shared these views while participating in a high-level roundtable discussion on the topic “Is Humanity Heading in the Right Direction?” under the 9th Edition of the Future Investment Initiative Conference 2025 in Riyadh.
PM Shehbaz called for mutual cooperation to support countries like Pakistan that are battered by the climate catastrophes and ruled out loans as the only option to recover. He added that repeated loans would erode the economic might of such countries, stagnating economic development.
Therefore, he said if humanity had to move forward, then it should proceed in unison, share its bounties and grievances together and share modern technologies with those countries which can use it to grow their production in the areas of agriculture, industry, and employment, among others.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif also extended felicitations to the Crown Prince of Saudi Arabia for the event and his vision to transform societies like he has done in Saudi Arabia.
“I represent the country which is rich in resources, and ever since our inceptio,n we have made very honest mistakes and learnt from it. We are all human beings, prone to mistakes but important is to learn from your mistakes,” he said.
PM Shehbaz informed the forum the massive reforms being implemented in Pakistan and termed them the most robust changes and deep rooted reforms that were direly required at this time.
“For example our Federal Board of Revenue, the tax collecting institution has been completely digitized and we are attacking corruption with full might…but Rome was not built overnight. We are undertaking industrial reforms and have a youth bulge as 60 per cent of our population is very young and…it’s a challenge as well as an opportunity,” the prime minister said.
