Shaukat unveils growth strategy

Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz told Pakistan Development Forum (PDF) partners on Monday that the country's future growth strategy "is built around achieving" water security, energy security, development of infrastructure and human capital as well as continuing of second-generation reforms. After making remarkable turnaround of economy, he said, the country was focusing on achieving high growth rate of 7 to 8 percent for the coming decades and, secondly, all groups of people to reap the benefits of growth.
Shaukat, inaugurating the two-day PDF meeting at the PM Secretariat, said that since taking over as Prime Minister one area of his concentration was to initiate a wide ranging programme to create opportunities for people, especially those in rural areas.
Nearly 200 experts and representatives of the donors and multilateral agencies, ministers, foreign envoys and senior officials were present.
The inaugural session was also addressed by World Bank vice-president Praful Patel, ADB Vice President Liqun Jin, IMF Director Mohsin Khan and President of Islamic Development Bank Dr Ahmed Mohammed Ali who highly lauded the remarkable economic recovery, and pledged to support Pakistan in achieving the millennium development goals.
The Prime Minister had said that PDF had come at a time when the country was finalising the Medium-Term Development Framework where the development partners could help crystallise "our direction" and help make the exercise effective and useful.
The Prime Minister said that the country's poverty reduction strategy paper was geared to attain high growth in infrastructure and private sector development, improvement in service delivery and good governance aligned with millennium development goals. The Forum would provide an important opportunity to discuss the policies and new initiatives being taken for this purpose, he added.
He said that the country "is already on to the second generation of structural reforms". These reforms concentrate on strengthening institutions, improving competitiveness of industry, building a robust financial system, further strengthen tax administration, improve legal, police and judicial systems, restructure civil services, promote transparency in economic policy making and strengthening country's physical and human infrastructure to support high growth trajectory.
He said that the government is launching a major initiative to bring all vocational training facilities under one umbrella and initiating an aggressive programme to train 300,000 people additionally through public-private partnership programme which would reduce the shortage of skilled labour in the country.
He said that private sector is seen as engine of growth and primary source of employment generation. The interest in the privatisation programme and the response to incentives given to local and foreign investors in sectors as diverse as tourism, housing, oil and gas, telecommunication, information technology, and textiles was clearly indicative of the broadening base of recovery. The government believes it should create a conducive atmosphere for the private sector to play its effective role.
Equally important, he said, was the role of the civil society, which is critical to ensure good governance and transparency. "In fact, our ideal is to promote effective partnership between the government, the private sector and civil society."
About future goals he said that the country looked to universal primary education with 100 percent enrolment ratio, reducing infant mortality rate to 50 per 1000 births, increasing fully immunised children to 90 percent, reducing maternal mortality to 180 per 100,000 and access to safe water to 84 percent of the population, by 2011.
The Prime Minister added: "We have set ambitious targets in PRSP, MTDF and the MDGs. This is a huge task, and the country looks forward to working together to reach these signposts."