Geneva, Switzerland, June 24, 2008 – The World Economic Forum (WEF) applauded Pakistan’s Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) for its pioneering approach to conducting the Executive Opinion Survey 2008. CSF, which is a joint initiative of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) and the Ministry of Finance to improve the competitiveness of Pakistan’s industries, is using the survey to complete the Pakistani portion of the WEF’s prestigious “Global Competitiveness Report 2008-2009.”

The CSF strategy for the Executive Opinion Survey for 2008 was based on engaging students from leading business schools and other academic institutes to carry out the executive opinion surveys throughout the country. The process improved the data collection process in terms of both quality and quantity. It also resulted in creating a group of future business leaders who understand the importance of the Global Competitiveness Index (GCI), its 12 pillars, and the role of the business community in measuring the GCI. Students surveyed more than 230 top-level business executives operating in Pakistan to capture their opinion on the business environment.

CSF also identified language as one of the major impediments in getting the right data from the business community, especially from the small- and medium-sized enterprises. CSF proposed the WEF use survey forms in Urdu to increase responsiveness and the survey’s overall accuracy. As result, CSF saw a 35 percent increase in the response rate.

The WEF, in partnership with CSF, started Pakistan’s Executive Opinion Survey 2008 in January 2008. The Executive Opinion Survey, “The Voice of the Business Community,” is a major component of The Global Competitiveness Report and provides the key ingredient that turns the report into a representative annual measure of a nation’s economic environment and its ability to achieve sustained growth. The survey gathers valuable information on a broad range of variables for which hard data sources are scarce or non-existent.

The Global Competitiveness Report has been the World Economic Forum’s flagship publication since 1979 and is widely recognized as the world’s leading cross-country comparison of factors affecting economic competitiveness and growth.

Funding for CSF is part of the more than $2 billion in development assistance the United States, through USAID, is providing to Pakistan to improve education, health, governance, and economic growth, and to help rebuild areas affected by the October 2005 earthquake.