News: CSF concerned at slow pick up of private sector
Name of the Newspaper: Business Recorder
Date of publication: Monday, April 16 , 2007
Website: http://www.brecorder.com/index.php?id=551366&currPage
No=1&query=&search=&term=&supDate=

LAHORE (April 16 2007): The Competitive Support Fund (CSF) is concerned over slow pick up of Pakistan's private sector and it proposed an effective strategy for it to come up and join hands with the government to expedite the process of the national economic growth.

Its annual report being released on Monday dwells on all the key issues of Pakistan's economy and suggests various ways and means for improvement in respective areas. It foresaw Pakistan's ranking among top 60-65 countries in the world on the Global Competitiveness Index by 2010.

The report said approximately 800 Pakistani leaders in 4 workshops exposed to results of the report in different geographic regions and noted that private-public dialogue facilitated around key economic reform priorities with potential for this to be an annually repeatable exercise.

Following are the different key recommendations of the CSF for the government and private sector to sustain the existing economic growth for a long period.

Miscellaneous impacts

The report has created a debate in print and electronic media. This is reflected in all major publications carrying discussions regarding competitiveness issues in their editorial sections.

TRADE BODIES AND THEIR VIEWS:

Industry has realised the importance of concentrating on competitiveness issues and the FPCCI approached CSF in order to create a formal forum and standing committee for discussion of competitiveness progress in Pakistan. Additionally, they requested copies of the Executive Opinion Surveys for distribution, which form part of the basis of each country's rankings on the Global Competitiveness Rankings.

Moreover, the report has publicly taken the dialogue on competitiveness to the highest policy level. In his launching speech, the Prime Minister of Pakistan, Shaukat Aziz recognised that "competitiveness is the cornerstone of Pakistan's growth strategy". He reiterated that all arms of government would work more cohesively to improve Pakistan's rankings on the BCI and GCI.

Relevant to the nation-wide and international dissemination, following the launch of this report, in addition to CSF's own dissemination, 1100 downloads of the report have occurred from the website.

Major business schools have shown interest in partnering with CSF to link academia with industry. In this regard, CSF has already signed an agreement with HEC.

GENDER CONTRIBUTION TO ECONOMIC GROWTH:

As the project is new and the action plan only recently developed, the quantifiable results will be provided in the Progress Report for 2007-08. To date capacity building of 60 women has occurred through workshops held in the course of this study. Action plan for a 100 days has been developed.

CONFERENCE/CAPACITY BUILDING

ANNUAL REGIONAL TCI CONFERENCE IN ISLAMABAD:

Provided the road map for the competitiveness initiative in Pakistan. Assisted in identifying sectors which have competitive advantage to grow including, fisheries, auto vendor, food processing and motor cycle industries.

Outreach of the conference was significant. More than 400 people attended the conference representing a diverse range of stakeholders who were informed about CSF and CSF objectives

CSF, through its pivotal role in the conference, received vast media coverage with approximately 20 newspaper articles and 22 television coverage packages including 5 talks shows.

BRAINSTORMING OF STAKEHOLDERS WHICH FURTHER RESULTED IN:

FORMAL AGREEMENT WITH WEF:

Served as the base for CSF's dairy projects under its matching grants facility. Presentation by the representative of the motorcycle industry generated primary interest for CSF motorcycle policy analysis study. Discussion of conference generated the starting point for the FDI study that is currently underway. First personal contact for relationship with VINNOVA.

Agricultural sector was identified as one of the sectors that could grow. In order to support a knowledge-based economy, an memorandum of understanding (MoU) with Parc was signed.

Representation at the conference of the gems and jewellery sector generated interest resulting in CSF adopting project under its matching grants facility.

The discussion at the conference on learning platforms for innovation and competitiveness encouraged CSF's initiative with the HEC and the setting up of the PCLP. The debate on biotechnology facilitated the upcoming relationship between FABA and CSF.

Discussion on SME sector encouraged and facilitated CSF's working relationship with SWOG under its matching grant facility. Pakistan's name was included in I the EuropAsia Conference.

Notably, Chairman CSF, Omer Ayub Khan's keynote speech at the conference earned him the World Economic Forum's 'Young Global Leader Award'.

PARTNERSHIPS FOR JOINT EFFORTS

MOU WITH HEC:

Capacity building of 410 people through workshops. 10-12 projects are to be undertaken. Each will have an investment of $ 250,000 approximately resulting in total new direct investment generated of $ 3,000,000.

Each dollar is expected to further generate five dollars. Thus, increased income generation amounts to $ 15,000,000.

Information dissemination through workshops in major cities. Have actively engaged academia in competitiveness debate.

The Pakistan Competitiveness Learning Platform (PCLP) An effort to assist universities and research institutions in commercialising the innovations developed by their faculties.

OBJECTIVE:

The objective of this component is to ensure that both the quantitative and qualitative information related of CSF, including the research and repository components of the Pakistan Competitiveness Learning Platform (PCLP), readily available to and utilised by stakeholders at all levels, from top policy makers to small business owners.

THERE ARE THREE COMPONENTS OF THE PCLP:

Research component, depository component and dissemination and education component.

There will be several modes for dissemination of information in PCLP, including reports, the internet, print media, television and radio, and events - seminars, conferences and workshops. This document will mainly focus on the planning of events, since the production of the reports and internal sites will be at least in the first instance, the responsibility of the research and depository components, and media campaigns will for the most part be driven by the scheduling of other events.

A key emphasis of this component will be on learning. Much of what is learned in the early stages of a competitiveness programme is extremely relevant to economic development activities in other parts of the country. However, the "uptake" is often very slow, because much of the knowledge gained is "tacit knowledge" and the understanding of the implications of quantitative information, such as benchmarking reports that are a key feature of the PCLP, are often not obvious to many stakeholders who need to understand them - business owners and managers, policy makers, and researchers.

Thus, designing a process where genuine cross-learning can take place, almost always based on a series of face-to-face interactions, can actually accelerate the process that is the most fundamental aspect of a competitiveness programme: the change in mind-sets of key players in the economy.

If CSF is successful, there will be two distinct "flavours" that participants will detect in Learning Platform events that distinguish them from the traditional style:

All events taking place under the Learning Platform umbrella will actively seek-subject to the constraints of the topic, local culture, and logistics - to maximise the degree of interaction of participants with presenters, and with one another. While the 2-day committee workshops will have the greatest opportunity for such "interactive learning", even half-day research updates will make sure to feature some items on the agenda that allow for better feedback and dialogue than traditional Q&A sessions. Each event will reflect a high degree of integration with other policy and analytical researchers throughout the country. Materials and choice of speakers will represent more a compilation of best practices as in the best work being done inside and outside Pakistan, rather than the "reinvented wheels" of one agency.