The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) marked the closing of its four-year $11.3 million Pakistan Initiative for Strategic Development and Competitiveness project (PISDAC) after registering "significant achievements" here on Wednesday.
To mark this event, USAID-PISDAC organised at one-day conference on "Sharing best practices and lessons learned for creating value together" here at a local hotel. Dr Warren Weinstein, Chief of Party, JE Austin, Kevin Murphy, President and CEO JE Austin and Acting Director USAID Edward Birgells also spoke on the occasion.
The ceremony was attended by manufacturers, exporters, academics, and others that have participated in the project. These Strategy Working Groups focused on sectors, including gems and jewellery, marble and granite, dairy, furniture, surgical instruments and medical devices, and horticulture.
Kevin Murphy, on the occasion provided an overview of a framework for building national competitiveness that represents the latest thinking, followed by how PISDAC projects fit into this overall framework.
Speaking on the occasion, Edward Birgells said that providing economic opportunities for all Pakistanis is fundamental in building a solid and sustainable foundation for continued economic growth, prosperity, and peace.
"Business leaders working through the USAID-PISDAC programme have already made significant achievements by working with each other to improve their products, increase their exports, and develop a more qualified workforce", he remarked.
The other speakers lauded the efforts of PISDAC that has set a unique precedent by successfully facilitating and developing economic growth strategies in six very different industrial sectors.
Initiated in 2004 and implemented by JE Austin Associates, USAID-PISDAC has partnered with Pakistani industries to create a self-sustaining process to increase their exports. Support for PISDAC is part of the $1.5 billion in aid that the US is providing to Pakistan, through USAID, over five years to improve economic growth, education, health, and governance, and for quake reconstruction.
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