Islamabad, May 10 – “Pakistan’s private sector should increase its presence at the World Economic Forum”, this was stated by Hina Rabani Khar, Minister of State for Economic Affairs, here today. The minister of state was chairing a meeting with the Competitiveness Support Fund on the immediate actions to be taken to improve the state of Pakistan’s competitiveness.

Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz, will be the key note speaker at the World Economic Forum on the Middle East meeting. The theme of this year's World Economic Forum on the Middle East is Putting Diversity to Work. The conference will spotlights efforts to accelerate economic diversification in a time of prosperity for the region, while emphasizing the urgency of promoting peace and understanding in a region of great religious and ethnic diversity. Pakistan’s participation in this summit will also provide an opportunity for Pakistan’s private sector to be a part of the international business community. It is expected that more than 20 companies from the private sector in Pakistan will be participating in this event.

Mr. Arthur Bayhan, CEO of the Competitiveness Support Fund, informed the minister that CSF is the partner institute of the World Economic Forum (WEF). He further informed the minister about the CSF joint initiatives with the World Economic Forum in Pakistan and emphasized the importance of the private sector to be a part of the community of the Global Growth Companies of the WEF. Bayhan said that the CSF is working closely with the private sector leaders including the Pakistan Business Council to select these companies. He also pointed out that the meeting of the World Economic Forum to be held in Dalian, China from 6 to 8 of September 2007. The meeting is on the Global Growth Companies.

The Minister of State for Economic Affairs also urged CSF to play an active role in establishing public-private
partnership to bring Pakistani business and economy to international scene.

Later the CSF delegation also made a presentation to Mr. Anwar Mehmood, Secretary Information and Broadcasting on the GCI indicators on media, effecting Pakistan’s competitiveness rankings. The Secretary was briefed on the methodology of World Economic Forum to assess country’s ranking. Mr. Bayhan also briefed the secretary on the innovation journalism program that CSF is carrying out in collaboration with the Stanford University. The programme is designed to create awareness in the media and working journalists on innovation and competitiveness issues.

Mr. Mehmood urged CSF to identify the international sources, which should be updated on Pakistan’s current data. He also asked the CSF to create opportunities for the capacity building of the electronic media professionals in Pakistan. He emphasized his strong support to the CSF activities in Pakistan.

The meeting with the Ministry of Economic Affairs and the subsequent meeting with the Ministry of Information was a part of CSF’s initiative to bring all the line- ministries on board to improve Pakistan’s ranking on the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI) of the World Economic Forum. Pakistan is ranked 91 on the GCI in 2006, where Pakistan showed improvement of 3 rankings from 94 to 91 in 2005. One of the prime reasons’ for Pakistan’s low ranking on the

Global Competitiveness Index has been identified due to the non-availability of updated data to the international sources. The World Economic Forum uses the hard data available to the international sources for evaluating the competitiveness of the nations. The soft data for the GCI is measured through executive opinion surveys, where more then 11,000 international business leaders provide their input on their experiences in the respective economies.

The State of Pakistan’s Competitiveness Report of the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) and the World Economic Forum’s annual Global Competitiveness Report (GCR) identified lack of timely data provision to the international sources as one of the main reasons for Pakistan’s low ranking in the GCR.

Prime Minister, Shaukat Aziz launched the State of Pakistan’s Competitiveness Report in March this year. The Prime Minister asked the Competitiveness Support Fund to brief all the line- ministries on the importance of competitiveness for economic growth. The Prime Minister termed competitiveness as a corner stone of Pakistan’s growth strategy.

Abdul Basit, Joint Secretary, Prime Minister’s Special Programme Wing, Ministry of Finance informed the meeting that the Prime Minister’s Special Programme Wing (PMSP) has been tasked to coordinate with all the ministries for a close interaction to work with the CSF on improving Pakistan’s competitiveness ranking. He also pointed out that other countries in the region are improving their competitiveness by timely updating their data with the international sources and Pakistan should also develop such linkages.

CSF is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID). CSF Supports Pakistan’s goal to be of a more competitiveness economy by providing input into policy decisions, working to improve regulatory and administrative frameworks and enhancing public-private partnerships within the country. CSF also provides technical assistance and co-financing for initiatives related to entrepreneurship, business incubators and private-sector-led initiatives with research institutes and universities that contribute to creating a knowledge-driven economy.

Support for CSF is part of the $1.5 billion in aid that the U.S. Government is providing to Pakistan over five years to improve economic growth, education, health, and governance.

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