LAHORE - Deputy Convener Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) and Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistanis Dr Farooq Sattar on Saturday said that his party was ready to extend cooperation for the construction of Kalabagh Dam in the national interest and urged the political leadership to develop national consensus in this regard. Dr Farooq Sattar also admitted that the pro and anti-Kalabagh Dam statements are issued mainly for political point scoring and the issue could be resolved through dialogue. He was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Saturday. LCCI President Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, Senior Vice President Ijaz A Mumtaz, former Presidents Sheikh Saleem Ali, Iftikhar Ali Malik, Shahid Hassan Sheikh and former Senior Vice President Sohail Lashari also spoke on the occasion. Dr Farooq Sattar said that the electricity shortages should be equally shared, however he pointed out that reduction of electricity supply to KESC is a different matter as it had entered into a power purchase agreement of 630 MW with Pepco. He said the state should recognise the role of private sector in economic development. He said MQM believes in free market economy based on prudent regulations. Asia, he added, was leading the global economic recovery, regretting that Pakistan has failed to benefit from this opportunity. We have missed the train but there is still time to avail the opportunities present in the region, he said adding, to achieve economic stability we will have to put our house in order. Dr Farooq Sattar said that the government should resolve the issues impeding free and fair competition in the economy for accelerated growth. He appreciated the LCCI for its National Economic Agenda 2010-30. He, however, regretted that the implementation mechanism in the country is very poor. He said that the country was in dire need of both the vision and action and in their absence it could not be put on the path to progress and prosperity. He said that all the targets could be achieved but for the purpose, the government would have to take the private sector onboard that has both the capacity and the ability. The Deputy Convener of Muttahida Qaumi Movement, while stressing the need for fine-tuning of existing policies, said that there was a dire need for the transfer of technology as Pakistan has no dearth of talent. Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry said that the Lahore Chamber was in the final phase of Economic Agenda 2010-30, which is focused on harnessing Pakistans Potential to become self-reliant in every field. He said according to LCCI the problems being faced by the country were not economic but that of governance. The LCCI President said that Pakistan is blessed with tremendous potential through the natural resources. Gwadar alone as a deep seaport has the potential to manage shipments between China and Central Asian Republics destined for Gulf, Africa, and Far East. Only the freight of such shipment could be more than the aid we are receiving in Kerry-Lugar Bill. He said that the whole South-North region is perturbed and the full potential of the energy and trade corridor is not being materialised. Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry said that the province of Sindh is also in a dire need for good governance. While the full potential of Qadirpur Gas fields is still being scrutinised, it is a tragedy that thermal power plants are not being run on gas though Sindh has 20% more gas than its requirements. Even a bigger tragedy is that the Thar Coal mines with 1,85,000 million tons of reserves are still not being utilised to meet the current energy crisis. The LCCI President said that Pakistan is also home to a huge variety of precious stones, the proven resources in crude form amounts to around $ 69 billion. However once these are turned into ready-to-use form the value increases to as much as ten times to the tune of $ 690 billion. It is vital to invest in technology to produce the finished goods so that the true advantage of natures bounty could be reaped. These precious stones include ruby, emeralds, pink topaz, aquamarine, peridot, and Kashmir ruby. These are abundantly available in Hazara, Sawat, Bajaur, Chitral, Kohistan, and Mardan. Chaudhry said that lack of political will has created the economic recession in Pakistan. He said the business community needs a full commitment of all political forces to manage the resources of Pakistan for the best exploitation and to the benefit of people devoid of all foreign influences.