| Media Coverage - Wednesday, March 29, 2006 | ||||||||
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News: CSF to improve competitiveness of industry: Omar Ayub Khan He was speaking at a presentation of CSF at the FPCCI on Tuesday. Prof Michael Enright of Hong Kong University and CEO of CSF Arther Bayhan were also present on the occasion. The minister said the CSF is a venture between the ministry of finance and the USAID, and both Pakistan and the USAID have contributed $10 million each to this fund, which will be a window for venture capital match making. He said it will help improve competitiveness and enhance productivity through innovations and human resource development. Omar Ayub pointed out that textile industry has invested more than $4.5 billion for balancing and modernization, but it is to be seen how much they have invested to improve productivity. He urged the FPCCI to take lead in this regard and invite experts to train members of all affiliated chambers of commerce and industry and trade bodies on this issue. The minister said the government was focusing on export growth and competitiveness is vital for this purposes. "If you are not competitive, you lose not only your exports but also your share in the international market by a similar percentage," he said. "We, in the government, have realized that our industry is lacking in productivity and competitiveness and this is the reason why this fund has been created", he added. He said the government can only create enabling business environment and it is job of the private sector to bring change. The private sector is the agent of change, he observed. Omar Ayub said the government is creating an environment conducive to investment and business activities through de-regularization, privatization and economic reforms. Answering a question, he said rising import of machinery, raw materials and petroleum products have created a big trade deficit, but noted that this will generate huge economic activity in the country. He said sugar shortage is there due to less production of sugar following the sugarcane crop failure and rising international sugar prices. However, he said the government has imported sugar through various sources to cater to domestic demand. Earlier, Prof. Michael Enright of Hong Kong University and CEO of CSF Arther Bayhan talked about the benefits of CSF and underlined the need for improving competitiveness and productivity. Mr. Bayham said competitiveness and productivity are much better in the neighbouring countries like India . He pointed out that poor performance of public sector organizations have affected the national indexes of competitiveness and productivity in world ranking. He underlined the need for establishing a "centre for arbitration" in Pakistan to cater to the requirements in the region. Vice president of the FPCCI Akbar Abdullah, in his welcome address, appreciated the government's move and said it will help improve productivity and competitiveness of Pakistani manufacturers. |
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