Minister for National Food Security and Research Rana Tanveer Hussain has stressed the need to increase the country's exports to achieve sustainable economic growth.

Talking to the media at the Expo Centre in Lahore today, he said increasing exports would also help reduce the country's dependence on imports.

He said the country received record workers' remittances of about forty-two billion dollars during the last financial year, but stressed that remittances alone cannot drive economic progress.

The Minister said Pakistan had set a target of increasing its exports to sixty billion dollars, saying the achievement of this goal is essential for strengthening the national economy.