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Welcoming Remarks by the Ambassador of Pakistan on the National Day of Pakistan, Prague (20 March 2014) President, Senate of the Czech Republic, Deputy Minister of Defence Dean of the Diplomatic Corps, Excellencies Ambassadors, Distinguished Guests, Ladies & Gentlemen, Good Evening & Dobry Vecer, It is enormous honour and huge privilege for me to welcome Milan Stech, President, Senate of the Czech Republic, and our distinguished guests to the Pakistan Day Reception. I express profound thanks to all guests for gracing this occasion. (Prosim dovolte mi uvitat predsedu Senatu Ceske republiky, pana Milana Stecha, a vsechny dalsi vyznamne hosty. Velice vam vsem Dekuji za ucast.) Allow me, to convey to the new government of Prime Minister Bohuslav Sobotka, our best wishes for continued success, progress and economic development of the Czech Republic as well as prosperity of its people. On 23 March 1940, Quaid-e-Azam Muhammad Ali Jinnah, adopted the Lahore Resolution, pledging for the creation of an independent Muslim state. The valiant struggle culminated on 14 August 1947 and Pakistan emerged as an independent country. The people and the Government of Pakistan have been facing steadfastly the critical and formidable challenges of militancy, extremism, terrorism, law and order situation and internal security. We have faced hundreds of suicide attacks, and lost over 40,000 innocent civilians, as well as over 7000 brave soldiers, security personnel and policemen. Being the worst victim, Pakistan condemns terrorism in its all forms and manifestations. As terrorism is a common threat to the entire international community, we need to defeat it collectively. In 2013, we had free, fair and transparent general elections in Pakistan. As a result, a peaceful transfer of power took place from one elected government to another. The government of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif inherited long power outages and stifled economic growth. Over the last nine months, the economy has started showing revival due to prudent measures taken by the Government of Pakistan through launching the Power Policy, clearing circular debt, presenting an austerity budget, cutting wasteful expenditure, reducing a number of ministries, and abolishing discretionary grants. 1 As reported by The Economist, in its latest issue, Pakistan, despite all challenges and odds, achieved 6.1% GDP growth in 2013, which is the second highest, after China’s 7.7% GDP growth, and 13.2% industrial production, which is the highest in the world. Inflationary pressures have started to ease, budget borrowings have reduced drastically, exports are picking up, and foreign remittances have also recorded upward growth. The Pakistani rupee has stabilized. We have valiant and professional Armed Forces, a vibrant democracy, independent judiciary and free media. The people of Pakistan are epitome of resilience. The civil society and the middle class are getting far stronger than many think. This is a new and confident Pakistan with ceaseless creativity, adaptability and entrepreneurship. Mobile and micro financing as well as new approaches in learning augur well and offer the best hope for the country’s future. The Government of Pakistan is fully committed and poised to meet enormous economic opportunities and security challenges. The diplomatic relations between Pakistan and the erstwhile Czechoslovakia were established on 27 September 1950. Since then, the two countries have maintained close, cordial, cooperative and mutually beneficial relations in the fields of defence, energy, infrastructure, trade and investment. Our bilateral relations have been consolidated through regular exchange of visits of Ministers and senior officials and trade delegations of the two countries. We have signed a number of MoU and agreements to bolster cooperation. Agreements on the Promotion & Protection of Investments; Avoidance of Double Taxation and the Establishment of Joint Economic Commission are under process between the two governments. The signing of these agreements will further strengthen bilateral relations. The Czech Republic held the first Pakistan-EU Summit during its EU Presidency in 2009 and supported Pakistan in the EU for enhanced market access. The European Union is Pakistan’s largest trading partner accounting for 25% of our exports. We are grateful to the Government of the Czech Republic and the European Union member countries for their invaluable support extended to Pakistan for grant of the GSP Plus Status in the EU with effect from 01 January 2014. I would like to express profound thanks to the Czech companies, Aero Trade, VTK Special, and Prvni brneska strojirna Velka Bites for their support as well as assistance of my colleagues and the Czech staff at the Embassy of Pakistan in organizing the National Day Reception. Let me conclude by praying for good health, success and prosperity of leaders and the peoples of our two countries, as well as our guests present here tonight. Thanks a lot. Dekuji Vam! 2