Minister of State for Finance and Chairman of the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), Omar Ayub Khan said on Friday that Pakistan was focusing on innovation and competitiveness for long-term economic development.
According to a message received here from Lyon, France, Omar Ayub Khan was speaking at the concluding session of the 9th annual conference of the World Competitiveness Institute (TCI), organised in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Lyon. He also presented Pakistan's vision for economic development and its role as a catalyst in the region.
He announced an 8.4 percent increase in Pakistan's GDP over the previous year and added that this had produced a dynamic effect on the economic development of the country, creating new opportunities for employment and the elimination of poverty.
Omar Ayub Khan said that private sector in Pakistan had been given incentives targeting economic growth and the people increasingly trust the future planning and projects of the Government.
Khan said that the CSF had been established as a joint venture between the Government of Pakistan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to address the economic competitiveness issues of the economy.
Speaking as the keynote speaker on the occasion, the Minister briefed the audience about the economic development policies initiated by President General Pervez Musharraf and Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz. "We are committed to improving the economic competitiveness of Pakistan through innovation and competitiveness", the minister announced.
Khan, who was representing a delegation in the conference consisting of professionals from the public as well as the private sector, said that Pakistan's speeding economic development had increased its energy requirements, and to fulfil these, four mega-dams, including the Kalabagh Dam, would be constructed during the next ten years.
Together they were expected to produce up to 4000 MWs of electricity and would earn the exchequer revenue of $4 billion annually. This had created immense potential in this sector. He added that after 2000, a stable and persistent economic policy had yielded positive results.
He added that, during the past four years, 10 textile projects have invested about $5 billion, the livestock industry was being upgraded and 4 percent of GDP was to be spent on health and education. He continued by noting that the overall economic weightings have swelled to $125 billion in the latest fiscal year, compared to $62 billion six years ago.
The Pakistan competitiveness delegation participated in the other sessions of the conference as well, including the potential of biotechnology clusters in Pakistan, governance and session innovation journalism. The conference was attended by more than 500 experts from various sectors.
Members and new participants joined together to share ideas, build alliances and explore the best modes of economic development. Additionally information was offered about specific clusters, introductory courses on cluster theory and presentations were given by an array of world experts. Omar also met Elisqbeth THION, Vice President of the Chamber of Commerce and Industry, Lyon to promote French investment into Pakistan.