News: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that competitiveness is the cornerstone of economic growth and development and all arms of the government and the private sector will have to be involved to improve Pakistan's ranking in the global competitiveness index
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Date of publication: Friday, February 09, 2007

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said that competitiveness is the cornerstone of economic growth and development and all arms of the government and the private sector will have to be involved to improve Pakistan's ranking in the global competitiveness index. He said this while chairing a meeting in Islamabad to review the state of Pakistan's competitiveness and to decide the steps required to be taken to improve it. The prime minister said that improving competitiveness is a major initiative taken by the government. He said that for the first time in the country's history, a competitiveness support fund has been created by the government in collaboration with USAID. The Prime Minister said it would be an overarching fund, which will be available to all stakeholders including the private sector to bring about holistic improvement in all drivers of economic growth. He emphasized the necessity to provide accurate and updated data well in time to all domestic and foreign agencies so that they can make correct assessment of Pakistan's state of competitiveness. He said the C.S.F will work in partnership with the world economic forum and competitiveness councils in the U.S.A and European Union. He said the CSF will provide technical assistance and matching grants for cluster development. The prime minister was informed that C.S.F plan of action will focus on improving corporate governance, infrastructure, health, education, technological readiness business, sophistication and innovation.