Karachi, January 10: The Government of Sindh and the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF)—a joint initiative of the United States Government and the Government of Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance—today signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) to work together for the promotion of economic development and competitiveness in the province.

The importance of the signing was underscored by the attendance of U.S. Ambassador to Pakistan, Ryan C. Crocker, Governor of Sindh, Dr. Ishrat-ul-Ebad Khan and USAID-Pakistan Mission Director, Jonathan Addleton, along with dignitaries from the private and public sectors.

Ambassador Crocker noted that for the period of 2003-2007, United States Agency for International Development (USAID) funding for Economic Growth assistance to Pakistan totaled $73 million. “This partnership will ensure that Pakistan is better poised to not only understand the needs of the global market, but also to meet those needs head on with a highly skilled, well-trained workforce,” said Ambassador Crocker.

The agreement will enable CSF to support a knowledge-based economy in Sindh by providing technical assistance and co-financing for private sector initiatives. In his keynote address, Minister of State for Finance and Chairman of CSF, Omar Ayub Khan, said that Pakistan needs to strengthen the institutions that will allow its economy and society to respond to the challenges and opportunities of expanding global knowledge-based competition. “CSF is an important policy tool in achieving this objective,” he said.

Dr. Ebad commended CSF’s strategy and its stress on policy dialogue on joint initiatives between industry, academia and public institutions. “The academic and private sector representatives present here today should take advantage of this unique opportunity and look into the economic potential of Sindh to promote regional economic development for sustainable economic growth in Pakistan,” he said.

Under the MOU, CSF will conduct a study of various industries in Sindh to evaluate their competitive advantage in the regional and global economies. The Government of Sindh and CSF will also establish a Sindh Roundtable on Competitiveness (SRC) comprising 8-10 members, including government representatives, private sector leaders, and the heads of selected universities as a public/private partnership for enhancing Sindh’s economic potential.
CSF’s policy support will be based on extensive research. CSF has analyzed value chains—the stages in a supply chain at which value is added to a final product—in various sectors including the motorcycle, automotive, food processing and fisheries industries. Last month, CSF also signed an MOU with the Pakistan Agriculture Research Council (PARC) to look into research-based agri-business projects in Pakistan. CSF will be publishing the annual State of Pakistan’s Competitiveness Report 2007. This report will be launched by the Prime Minister before his departure for the World Economic Forum, of which CSF is the partner institution in Pakistan.

CSF has established a matching grants facility to support knowledge-based innovation projects at universities, research institutions and business development agencies. Through the facility, CSF will offer 50% matching grants of a minimum value of $20,000 and will provide technical expertise to improve grant recipients’ commercial performance. Throughout Pakistan, the Competitiveness Support Fund will be providing technical assistance for the creation of an empowering regulatory framework for businesses.

Funded by the USAID and the MoF, CSF has been tailored to the current Pakistani economic environment to improve the policy framework for supporting innovation-based competitiveness (more information available at www.competitiveness.org.pk). 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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