News: Competitiveness corner stone of growth : PM Asks private sector to come forward
Name of the Newspaper: Pakistan Observer
Date of publication: Tuesday, March 13 , 2007
Website: http://pakobserver.net/

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has said the government is committed to ensure improved competitiveness and enhanced productivity to make the country real player in the globalized economy.

He was speaking at the launching of first report of the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) on the State of Pakistan's Competitiveness 2007 in Islamabad Monday. The report has been prepared by the Competitivenss Support Fund that is a joint venture of the Ministry of Finance and US Agency for International Development (USAID).

He said competitiveness is the cornerstone of Pakistan 's growth strategy and the government will take every possible step to improve competitiveness in all sectors to compete the global challenges.

The Prime Minister described the launching of report as a defining moment for marching towards a bright future of the country and urged all stakeholders including government, private sector and the civil society to rise to the occasion to improve productivity and competitiveness through their collective efforts.

Elaborating fundamentals for enhanced competitiveness, Mr. Shaukat Aziz said these include innovation, improvement of infrastructure, strong macro-economic policies, provision of improved education and health services, market efficiency, availability of skilled labour and devolving of power at the lower level. In this regard, he said the government is on its way to provide world class infrastructure and provision of quality education besides high class health services and removing all impediments.

The Prime Minister said launching of this report is an effort that is essential for moving towards a better future of the nation as no longer we can live at the laurals of past. In this regard, he said a lot of efforts have been made during the last seven years which have resulted in making vibrant the economy but there is a long way to achieve the desire goals. He stressed the need for institutionalizing the structure reforms for a smooth and sustainable economic progress through promoting competitiveness which also plays a vital role in reducing poverty through creating more jobs.

He said it is a wake up call for all stakeholders to adjust them with the changing atmosphere at the global level and reposition them to compete the international players for a real economic progress. He said the government is on the front to encourage the private sector to move forward and take the charge of commercial activities. In this regard, he said the government has opened the doors for every one and it is on its way to make the processes more easy to ensure expeditious investment in the country. He said twenty-five million dollars competitiveness fund would provide all out facilities to the private and public sector to improve their efficiency. He said if the economy is strong and people have the sense of better future, the task for a better future becomes easy.

Answering questions, Mr. Shaukat Aziz said the CSF would continue its surveys with a view to improve efficiency and productivities of all-the sectors and provide all out help to them in this regard.

To another question, he said agricutural business is clearly and unused opportunity which needs more attention of the private sector as it can help provide huge jobs to the people in the rural areas and improve their living standards and declining poverty.

In his remarks, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance Dr. Salman Shah highlighted the objectives of the fund and said improving the competitiveness of the country's economy will in turn help achieve the ambitious rates of economic growth that have been set as goals and targets. Dr Salman Shah said the new initiatives would help raise Pakistan 's overall global competitiveness ranking from 91st in 2006 to among the top 70 by 2010, with the creation of a more investment-driven economy.

He said the 'State of Pakistan's Competitiveness Report' would foster broader understanding of country's competitiveness challenges and stimulate debate among the government, business, education, civil society and regional leaders on the priority actions.