News: CSF being set up for increasing country's Int'l competitiveness
Name of the Newspaper: The Daily Mail
Date of publication: Wednesday, February 15, 2006

ISLAMABAD: Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub Khan Tuesday said that a fund was being set up with the support of international donors to up-grade skilled manpower and emerging professionals for enhancing the competitiveness of the country in international market.

The government will provide US $ 10 million as initial support for the Competitive Support Fund (CSF), while the USAID has already made a contribution of US $ 10 million to the fund.

The CSF through its financial facilities will develop appropriate instruments to improve competitiveness of national economy, which will boost the economic growth and create employment oppurtunities," the Minister said in an interview to APP here.

The European Union has also hinted at a contribution of US $ 10 million to the fund, the Minister said.

Talking about the importance of the fund, Omar Ayub said that competitiveness was vital for sustainable and long-term economic growth, referring to the Growth Report 2006 of the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) Paris-based Club of the industrialised nation.

The Minister said Pakistan was facing an urgent need to ensure the competitiveness and innovation of its products for promotion of national economy and well being of future generation.

We have to strengthen the national institutions to face present day economic challenges", he added. The CSF aims at building necessary infrastructure for innovation and competitiveness in Pakistan focusing on the development of the appropriate cluster strategies, promoting business incubation and venture capital, supporting ventures at the universities and helping commercialisation of the result of the research carried out in the country.

The CSF has three financial windows namely Matchmaking Grants, Technical Assistance, and Business Incubators and Venture Capital. Explaining its working, the Minister said the programme would use one of its financial facilities towards its objectives to increase knowledge-based enterprise development in country.

In case of matchmaking grants, for instance, the fund will be utilised for enhancing the quality of the products of specific sector. It will even provide financial support for module farming etc," he added.

The technical assistance facility of the Fund will help the research institutions to support ventures; provide support for technological business incubators, and promote knowledge-based enterprises. It will further promote venture capital and support the creation of a stable legal framework, he added.

Omar Ayub said the Fund will ensure the dialogue between the universities and private industry, which is one of the important policy dimensions of the SME authorities in the bench marked countries.
The government has taken further steps to establish leadership role in national competitiveness by developing working relationship with relevant international and bilateral stakeholders.

About scope of competitiveness in Pakistan, he said, the analyses carried out by the World Economic Forum on national competitiveness and published in the annual Global Competitiveness Report, placed Pakistan at relatively low ebb when it comes to the nature of its competitive advantage. He said the country now facing competition at international markets, so we must have to create innovation in our produts to face the challenges, which is vital for economic survival of the country.

To a question he said, the government was undertaking initiative to work with a number of the international institutions to use the best practice for developing the legal framework, which is essential for ompetitiveness.

About a regional conference of the World Competitiveness Institute based in Barcelona/Spain being held in Pakistan, he said it will take place to mark Pakistan's determination to improve its ompetitiveness both regionally and globally.

The conference will provide an opportunity to the Pakistani businessmen to exchange ideas with internation market leaders about the competitiveness and innovation.-APP