He made it amply clear that the import led Dubai Model of economic development would not work, and if Pakistanis kept parking their money overseas then the crisis at home would no doubt go from bad to worse. He said that no tangible investment had been made in the last 70 years, and we were all complicit in running two kinds of Pakistan.
Zaidi further said, "We have been too inconsistent in our policy-making, and in the last 40 years we have divorced the Books of Accounts from the Taxation system. We do not have reliable data and the documentation of the economy remains wishful thinking." Zaidi spoke of the complete disharmony between the mindsets of the tax collector and the taxpayer, and said that the solution lay in fixing the system instead of reforming the individual. In this connection the FBR had instituted reforms that simplified the process and ensured minimum interaction between the FBR and the taxpayers.
Following the FBR Chairman, the Deputy Governor State Bank Jameel Ahmad gave an overview of Pakistan's monetary policy and digitization of payment systems.
A high-powered CEO Panel built upon the broad strokes of the keynote speakers with an animated discussion on "The New Economic Paradigm - Opportunities and Challenges." Featuring in that bare-knuckled discourse were Ikram Sehgal (Chairman, K-Electric & Pathfinder Group Pakistan) speaking on "The Changing Face of the Great Game and Pakistan's Pivot with Style and Speed"; Shazad Dada (CEO, Standard Chartered Bank) on "The Rising Challenge of Compliance: How is the Banking Model being Reshaped by the New AML/KYC Regimes"; Sagheer Mufti (COO, HBL) on "Transforming for a Digital Future"; Saquib H Shirazi (CEO Atlas Honda Ltd) on "Evolution of Manufacturing Sector in Pakistan."
Other topics under fire during the rest of the day included "Using Creativity in Business to Drive Success"; "Innovation Driven Financial Inclusion"; "People Strategies for Today and Tomorrow"; Role of Capital Markets in Economic Development of Pakistan - Challenges and Way Forward"; "Design Your Life - Key Insights from Design Thinking and Behavioral Science"; "Achieving Growth by Mergers and Acquisitions"; and "Reputation Management in the Digital Age."