Islamabad, March 5, 2009: The Agriculture Committee, set up by the Prime Minister in 2008, held its first meeting today at the Economic Affairs Division. The meeting was chaired by Minister of State for Finance & Economic Affairs, Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar.

The meeting discussed various cross-cutting agriculture policy issues and made recommendations on the future course of action. It was unanimously decided that four sub-committees would be set up for Research, Infrastructure, Marketing & Processing and Exports. The Marketing & Processing and Infrastructure Committees would coordinate closely with each as the two are interlinked.

The Infrastructure sub-committee would be headed by Mr. Shamoon Sadiq, CEO Pakistan Horticulture Development Export Board (PHDEB) while Marketing & Processing would be led by Mr. Afaq Tiwana, CEO PATCO and Chairman Agrimall. Dr. Kausar Abdullah Malik, Professor of bio-technology Forman Christian College, Lahore, will head the research sub-committee and Exports would be given direction by Mr. Mansoor Saeed, Project Manager Exports, Metro.

Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar emphasized that for the committee to be truly effective, “Work should be done in weeks not months.” She also said the sub-committees need not produce lengthy works of research at the next meeting but three to four workable action points. The Agriculture Committee will meet every fifteen days before the 2009 budget and every three months after.

It was the first time that the triple helix model – government, private sector and academia – came together at the policy level on agriculture. The Vice-Chancellor for the Agriculture University Peshawar, Said Khan Khalil, was happy to note that the academia had been invited to participate at the policy level.

The Agriculture Committee was proposed to be formed in 2008 by the Prime Minister to remove impediments and bottlenecks in agriculture and facilitate growth. The committee is geared towards removing bottlenecks and introducing policies that will lead the sector in the right direction. It will also include the findings of the Task Force on Food Security recently completed by the Planning Commission.

The structure of the committee developed by the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) is based on the best practice used around the world which includes the triple-helix approach to competitiveness, economic development and growth comprising of government, academia, and private sector in a public private partnership. The Committee is headed by Ms. Hina Rabbani Khar. The Secretariat is provided by the Competitiveness Support Fund. CSF’s mandate includes providing input into high level policy decisions aimed at generating a competitive economy based on sustained economic growth, job creation and poverty alleviation.

CSF will provide secretarial support, including expert services and research, a database of agriculture institutions, research centers and so-called “thought leaders in agriculture” who provide a large human expert resource. CSF also provides a National Policy Platform for Economic Growth which is a network approach to policy formulation supported by USAID. This policy network includes various institutions that will complement the work of the committee.

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

USAID’s support for CSF is part of the $2.8 billion aid that the U.S. Government has provided to Pakistan since 2002 to improve economic growth, education, health, and governance and to reconstruct the earthquake-affected areas.