PM not stopped from WEF address due to corruption, Panama: WEF member
PM was asked in October if he wanted to join, his office refused, he made up mind later, says Sehgal
ISLAMABAD: (Web Desk, Dunya News) – World Economic Forum (WEF) member Ikram Sehgal has on Monday said that Prime Minister (PM) Nawaz Sharif wasn’t barred from speaking at the event due to the corruption allegations or his alleged involvement in Panama Leaks, reported Dunya News.
Talking on Dunya News program ‘Tonight with Moeed’, Ikram Sehgal said that there was no truth to the rumours about PM being barred by anyone from speaking at WEF. He said that WEF had invited PM but there was some confusion at PM office due to which it wasn’t possible to schedule a speaking session for him.
Sharing the details, Sehgal said that WEF had contacted PM Office back in July in order to know if PM wished to join the forum this year. “WEF was told by the PM Office that he was engaged somewhere else and thus wouldn’t be able to attend the forum this year”, he said.
“I had personally invited PM during the month of August but didn’t receive any response till September. I invited him again in October and told him that it would be important for him to explain China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), otherwise I’d have to engage someone else. But there was again a response that it wasn’t available due to important engagements. Then I contacted General (r) Raheel Sharif because he had retired by then”
“However, I was later informed from the PM Office that he was available and would attend the forum as well. But it was too late to arrange a public session at that time because the schedule had not only been formulated but printed as well by that time”.
Sehgal added that PM held bilateral meetings and they were extremely important public meetings but those didn’t have the public exposure of course.
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