ISLAMABAD, Nov 16: President Gen Pervez Musharraf said here on Saturday that the next five years were very important for Pakistan and hoped that the new government would take advantage of the “sound macro-economic policies” framed by his government.

“If Pakistan follows the course and implements the strategy that has been crafted after much deliberations and with great care, dividends would soon be there for us to reap,” he stated.

Presiding over a joint meeting of the federal cabinet and the National Security Council (NSC), he said his government was concluding its three years tenure on a note of satisfaction that “it pulled a rudderless ship out of the storm” and “set it on full sail”.

The president said that over the last three years his government introduced “meritocracy” and transparency in governance and succeeded in running a corruption-free administration.

He said he and his colleagues took pride in the fact that after more than two decades of stagnation they had “brought the country to a take-off stage” and it was now for the elected government to build on the bricks laid by his team.

The president thanked the members of the National Security Council, including the service chiefs and the governors of the province as well as members of the cabinet for the complete dedication and commitment with which they helped him “rebuild the ship of the state and put it on an even keel.”

He said three years ago he had put together a group of professionals in the cabinet who were then strangers to each other. They, however, soon welded together into a well oiled team and were now parting as friends and comrades “who brought strength and pride back to Pakistan.”

The president emphasized that no individual or association was permanent and it was the country alone which had permanence. The focus of governance, he said, must, therefore, remain the interest of Pakistan and that he had always kept that interest foremost.

He explained that he had taken certain difficult decisions in the larger and long-term interest of the country and, particularly, in the interest of its economic and political stability.

Pakistan can afford no further disruption and mis-governance, he said, “and it was with that objective alone that he has been emphasizing the need for continuity of reforms.”

Earlier, the services chiefs, the provincial governors and members of the cabinet, praised the leadership of President Pervez Musharraf who, they said, was leaving behind an “enviable legacy of efficient and honest governance.”

They said that the high standards of personal integrity, efficiency, commitment and dedication will now be the marks against which the performance of all governments will be judged by the people of Pakistan. They thanked the president for reposing his trust in them and wished him success in his new term as the President of Pakistan.

Chairman, Joint Chiefs of Staff Committee, Gen Mohammad Aziz Khan, Vice-Chief of Army Staff, Gen Mohammad Yousaf Khan, Chief of Air staff, Air Chief Marshal Mushaf Ali Mir, Chief of Naval Staff, Admiral Shahid Karimullah and the four provincial governors were also present.