Islamabad: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed the leasing of ships to expand the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation (PNSC) fleet in order to ease the burden of $4 billion on the national exchequer.
A review meeting on the affairs of the Pakistan National Shipping Corporation was held under the chairmanship of the Prime Minister.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister stated that due to the shortage of ships in the PNSC fleet, valuable foreign exchange amounting to $4 billion is being spent annually on sea trade from the national exchequer.
The Prime Minister directed that a business plan for PNSC should be presented within two weeks, which must include a strategy to eliminate the annual $4 billion burden on the national exchequer.
During a briefing on the performance of PNSC, the Prime Minister was informed that the corporation currently possesses 10 ships of various types, which have a total cargo capacity of 724,643 tons.
Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahsan Iqbal Cheema, Federal Minister for Maritime Affairs Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, and senior PNSC officials also attended the meeting.
