Federal Industries Minister Jehangir Khan Tareen has said that duties on imported cars would be reduced in the forthcoming budget, with the objective of controlling the current trend of charging premium on cars. He said this while talking to newsmen at the concluding session of the 2nd Punjab Development Forum here on Tuesday, which was organised by Planning and Development Board Punjab.
Tareen refused to give details of reduction in duties, however he said that supply of cars would increase in the country. He disclosed that two European auto firms, Volkswagen and Renault, have shown interest in establishing their vehicles manufacturing plants in Pakistan, and at present the proposal was in a premature stage. However, once the dialogue with Renault matured, it could start production in next few years, he added.
He said that wages in Europe were very high as compared to Pakistan, hence many of the European firms would turn to us to capitalise on low wages.
On the Hannover industrial fair, he said that it was a successful show in which 50 Pakistani businessmen participated.
He pointed out that they received very good and encouraging response at the fair, in which the Pakistani government had acquired 750 square feet of space as compared to others who had on average obtained 50 square feet. "On the whole the government had spent Rs 35 million on the venture to facilitate our businessmen, while they had only to bear their travelling expenses. Moreover, a German machine shop, Diyna, had committed to come to Pakistan," he added.
Jehangir was of the view that Pakistan could just not rely on textile sector alone for exports; we need to expand our base in this connection. He said that at present textile sector only constitutes six-percent of the international exports while engineering sector accounts for 60 percent. "Hence, we need to focus on engineering sector, it has the potential for growth in the country," he added.
Earlier, addressing the PDF session, Tareen said that unemployment was the biggest challenge posed to Pakistan, thus it was imperative to create jobs in the country, and this would only be attained through industrial growth. In order to eliminate unemployment, share of manufacturing sector in GDP needs to increase from the present level of 18 percent to 25 percent. We admit the fact that only the big cities, and not the small ones, were prospering in the country, and it was a fact that till the entire country witnesses an industrial growth, there would be no prosperity on an even basis, he said.
For industrial growth, it was essential to increase the pool of skilled labour in the country, he added.
He strongly advocated for public-private partnership, which, in his opinion, should grow. In this regard, the government was making efforts to encourage the private sector to come forward. He said that aproject like Punjab Industrial Estate (PIE) reflects vital contribution of the private sector. He was of the view that stakeholders should be given representation at policy-making level. "The government should only provide an enabling environment, and induct the private sector in policy-making level to avoid traditional delay in decision-making," he added.
While addressing the closing session, Dr Akram Sheikh, Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission, said that Mid-Term Development Framework (MTDF) would be finalised and implemented in July this year, which would also provide a basis for formulating Vision 2030 that would be completed in one year. "The draft of MTDF has been approved and inputs from all the provinces and stakeholders were being accommodated. We need to develop a holistic plan that caters to the needs of all the stakeholders existing in the country," he added.
He also disclosed that in the forthcoming Federal Budget, the government would announce measures to divert the flow of money from non-productive sectors to productive sectors, in order to give a boost to the economy. He was of the view that there was also a need to control wastes that were running to the tune of Rs 650 billion in the form of inefficiency in management, water and energy wastage, etc.
While commending the Punjab government for making tremendous progress and compiling Economic Report 2005, he said, in order to sustain growth, we need to target sustainable society. Hence, he called for concentrating on justice to create a just economic society.
According to him, in the past we have neglected the vital sectors of education and science that has created impediments in the country''s progress. Thus education, vocational training and human resource development was essential for the development of the country.
Dr Akram averred that at present the government was concentrating on provision of clean drinking water to all, improving big cities and developing rural areas. He also emphasised for pubic-private partnership, as in his opinion public resources were insufficient to provide comprehensive social services.
Marshuk Ali Shah, Asian Development Bank (ADB) Country Director, showed satisfaction over the performance of the Punjab government in reforming its economy in all sectors that has shown remarkable progress. He said that creation of productive employment was vital to ensure that benefits of growth were widely distributed.
He said that the ADB was committed to support Punjab in its efforts, which could be gauged by its involvement through its flagship initiative - the Punjab Resource Management Programme (PRMP). He further said that ADB was now providing support for second-generation reforms in Pakistan that were designed to create employment opportunities.
Yusaf Samiullah, Department for International Development UK (DFID) Country Head, commended the Punjab government for the progress it has made over the last few years in all the sectors and reforming its fiscal management. He assured support and commitment of DFID to Pakistan in time to come.
Punjab Chief Secretary Kamran Rasool also spoke on the occasion. Earlier, Punjab Health Minister, Dr Tahir Ali Javed and Education Minister Imran Masood gave overview of their departments during a technical session that was chaired by Dr Nasim Ashraf, Chairman National Commission for Human Development.
Health Minister, Dr Tahir Ali Javed said in his speech that the provincial government was taking far-reaching steps to promote health sector and to provide the most modern treatment facilities to the people.
Under the dynamic leadership of Chief Minister, Pervaiz Elahi, we were taking revolutionary steps to provide basic health facilities to the needy at their doorsteps, he said. The emergency services were being upgraded with a cost of Rs one billion, he added.
With a view to provide better healthcare facilities to a majority of the population of the province living in rural areas, the government has planned to upgrade the rural health centers and tehsil headquarter hospitals whereas four THQs have already been upgraded with a cost of Rs 640 million, he said.
He further said that Chief Minister''s Health Sector Reforms Programme has been launched in the province to provide modern and timely healthcare facilities to the people.
An amount of six billion rupees would be spent on this programme in next two years. All the Rural and Basic Health Centers as well as tehsil and district headquarters hospitals will be upgraded and provision of latest medical equipment, medicines, doctors and other staff would be ensured under this programme, he said.
He said a cardiac centre would be set up at Faisalabad, besides a cardiac centre near Gujranwala to facilitate the people of Gujranwala, Sialkot, Wazirabad, Gujrat and Jhelum.
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