News Desk |
The National Bank of Pakistan celebrated 71st Independence Day in a big way. Mr. Saeed Ahmad President and CEO, NBP, had hoisted the national flag at the NBP’s Head Office and cut the cake to celebrate Pakistan 71st Independence Day. President of the bank reminded his team of the importance of “Green Initiative” as part of bank’s Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) and as something of great significance in Pakistan’s peculiar environmental challenges.
Hundreds of NBP employees, their families, representatives of media and social welfare organizations had attended the event. Employees wore green and white dresses to show their solidarity to the Nation. Both colors are part of country’s national flag. National Anthem and live patriotic songs doubled the celebrations and festivities of the day. It was a day of full enthusiasm and peace.
“Our Country is facing environmental problem due to climate change in crowded cities and pollution and the solution is better planning and addressing environmental issues among other actions by planting more and more trees,” said Saeed Ahmed. He further informed that NBP recognizes the urgency of this problem and has launched ‘Green Initiative’ campaign as part of CSR program through which thousands of plants are being planted across Pakistan. He urged the bank employees to take part in tree plantation campaign for improvement in the natural environment. Saeed appreciated the efforts of the organizers of this mega event.
National Bank, a premier banking institution, one of the “three big banks” along with Habib Bank and UBL defines the financial landscape of Pakistan given the size of its assets and works closely with the State Bank of Pakistan in maintaining stability in the markets. Bank has also joined in the “Green Initiative” which was first promoted by the Imran Khan’s PTI government in KP when it decided to plant a billion trees across the province. “Billon Tree Tsunami” has been acknowledged by international development agencies as a huge success story from Pakistan.
Few days before 14th August, Pakistan Army officially launched its own “Green Initiative” declaring that it will plant 10 million trees in the next few weeks during the rainy season of Aug – October. Army Chief, Gen. Bajwa, personally explained to the media that Army will cover the Margalla Hills with trees. Army has cantonment area rights over areas between Faisal Mosque and D-12 in Islamabad. This is the area behind the bases of PAF, Navy and National Defense University (NDU).
He expressed his believe that our national challenges such as water management, increasing populations and environmental issues can only be tackled with collective effort rather these challenges can be turned into opportunities. Saeed desired to change the NBP culture and environment to be progressive and friendly for the customer and thus he urged NBP staff members to further develop the spirit of teamwork, perform their duties honestly, with dedication and commitment to serve the nation. He also enchanted the audience by reading his own poem to promote the image of Pakistan.