State Minister for Finance further elaborated that the principal objective of CSF is to: 1. Promote knowledge- based enterprise start-ups and increase the productivity of the country's enterprises, 2. enhance the quality of the services and create new and better job opportunities, 3. Improve regulatory framework for viable business environment, and 4. Reinforce innovation-driven economic growth. The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) is being set up with the support of the USAID and a matching grant by the Government of Pakistan to upgrade skilled manpower and emerging professionals in increasing Pakistan's competitiveness in the international market. CSF will support pilot projects that contribute to advance good strategy; make a sector more competitive; and help the producer and the value chain to obtain better value and better prices at each point in that chain, contributing to poverty alleviation and more income for producers, he added.

Earlier, Prime Minister's advisor for financial affairs Dr. Salman Shah has lauded the economic policies of the present regime as conducive for containing poverty and unemployment. He announced an 8.4 % increase in GDP, over the previous year and said that this phenomenon has produced a dynamic effect on the economic development of the country, creating new opportunities for employment, and elimination of poverty. During the second days proceedings of the TCI Conference, eminent experts on Global Competitiveness, including Alec Hansen (Vice-president TCI), Kevin Murphy (President J.E Austin Associate, inc), Mr. Ifor Williams (Member of TCI Board of Advisors), Kabir Hashim, Albert Reynolds (Former Prime Minister of Ireland), Dr. Eriksson and Arthur Bayhan, CEO of the Competitiveness Support Fund highlighted various aspects of competitiveness and emphasized that achieving global competitiveness standards is the only way forward for a prosper Pakistan.

Pakistan hosted the Asian Regional Conference of The Competitiveness Institute (TCI) from May 14-16 to foster competitiveness, economic growth, poverty reduction and private enterprise. The conference brought together business and public sector leaders from Asia, the Pacific, the United States and Europe to share views on policies necessary for creating a competitive economy. This will assist the Government of Pakistan as they developed initiatives to build on recent economic growth.

The conference was organized by the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) under the sponsorship of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID), and it was held under the guidance of TCI and the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan.

Over the past several years, Asia's industries have become more competitive globally, generating rapid economic growth. Conference participants discussed and concluded on the strategies to understand why and how this has happened and a detailed report will be submitted by Professor Michael Enright to the Government of Pakistan so that the factors contributing to competitiveness can be identified and replicated.
Professor Michael Enright has been called as "one of the world's reigning strategy gurus" by the Academy of International Business, Michael Enright is a leading expert on competitiveness, regional economic development, and international business strategy. He also directs the Asia-Pacific Competitiveness Program at the Hong Kong Institute of Economics and Business Strategy and was a Founding Director and current Advisory Board Member of The Competitiveness Institute (a global professional body with members in 40 nations).
As a researcher, Professor Enright has directed major reviews of the competitiveness of 20 different economies on five continents and has co-authored eight books or monographs on related topics.

The conference also provided a platform for the Government of Pakistan to present its "second generation reforms" and other initiatives to build on recent economic growth to achieve sustainable growth and poverty reduction. The Ministry of Finance showcased its competitiveness initiatives which strengthen its industries' linkages with regional partners and global markets.

The Competitiveness Support Fund has been established by the Government of Pakistan in partnership with the USAID. The Competitiveness Support Fund will help to co-finance competitiveness-building initiatives undertaken in private-public partnerships and encourage the formation of innovative business incubator programmes to promote knowledge based enterprise development. It will also assist innovative education-industry linkages and support the Government's economic policy reforms to promote long-term economic growth driven by innovations.

The United States, through USAID, is providing more than $1.5 billion in development assistance to Pakistan over the next five years to improve education, health, governance and economic growth.

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About The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF)

The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) grows out of a benchmarking exercise that identified a gap in Pakistan’s efforts to become more competitive: the need for a vehicle to finance and support interventions that drive innovation, promote cluster development, establish linkages between academia and industry, encourage formation of innovative business incubator programs and venture capital, promote knowledge based enterprise development, create better jobs and boost innovation-driven long-term economic growth.

The principal objective of CSF is to: 1. Promote knowledge- based enterprise start-ups and increase the productivity of the country’s enterprises, 2. Enhance the quality of the services and create new and better job opportunities, 3. Improve regulatory framework for viable business environment, and 4. Reinforce innovation-driven economic growth.

About The Competitiveness Institute (TCI)
www.competitiveness.org

TCI is a global professional body with members in 40 nations and a network of the competitiveness experts and cluster practitioners worldwide. The TCI network provides a valuable resources for all triple helix actors with exchange of ideas, best practice and know-how regarding methodologies for economic growth. The Board of the TCI composes the well known innovation competitiveness individuals, including Prof. Michael Porter and Prof. Michael Enright. TCI's mission is to promote innovation-driven economic growth by fostering cluster-based development initiatives throughout the world.