Islamabad, October 30: Hina Rabbani Khar, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Finance, Revenue and Economic Affairs and the Chairperson of the Competitiveness Support Fund, today met with a group of journalists who were a part of the Innovation Journalism Fellowship Program of the Competitiveness Support Fund with the Stanford University in California, to discuss Innovation Journalism and to promote competitiveness in Pakistan.

The program, which spans over three to four months, is designed to prepare participants for innovative reporting on economic development and finance. Ms. Rabbani Khar expressed her pleasure on meeting with the group to discuss the details and the benefits of the program, which includes the experience gained in different news rooms in the US.

The Stanford Fellowship Program provides the means to journalists to strive for excellence in their specialized fields, and benchmark themselves against their counterparts in the West. The objective of the Fellowship Program is to develop better understanding of innovative processes; help participants to observe international aspects of the innovation economy; assist in bridging technology and business reporting in Pakistan and bridge the gap between reporting in Pakistan and reporting in the US and other countries.

Ms. Rabbani Khar noted that this important initiative will increase public focus on innovation, business and technology; improve communication with clusters or innovation systems; create understanding of the rapidly growing global innovation economy; understand the role of journalism and news in driving innovation; as well as create enhanced personal networks between international fellows and US hosts.

So far, eleven Pakistani journalists, from reputable news agencies such as The News, Dawn, AAJ TV, GEO etc, have participated in The Competitiveness Institute Conference, and/or attended the Fellowship Program at Stanford. These journalists worked in international newsrooms such as CNN and CNET, where they received international exposure.

The journalists attending the meeting with Miss. Rabbani Khar were representing GEO TV, Dawn, Samaa TV, News One TV, Associated Press of Pakistan, Business Recorder, News, and The Daily Times. They shared what they learnt from their experience in the United States with Miss. Rabbani Khar.

CSF recently organized a workshop on Capacity Building & Innovation Journalism in Islamabad. Around eighty journalists participated in the workshop. They expressed keen interest in the efforts and the program and said it motivated them to do better in their profession. CSF is organizing a second workshop on capacity building and innovation journalism in Karachi in November.

The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan, and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to reposition Pakistan’s economy on a more competitive global footing.

Support for CSF is part of the $2.8 billion in aid that the U.S. Government is providing to Pakistan over five years to improve economic growth, education, health and governance.