Prime Minister Raja Pervez Asharaf on Tuesday reconstituted a 13-member Economic Co-ordination Committee of the Cabinet (ECC) with Federal Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh as its Chairman.
According to a Cabinet Secretariat's notification, the Deputy Prime Minister/Senior Minister for Industries, Ministers for Commerce, Communications, Law and Justice, National Food Security of Research, Ports and Shipping, Privatisation, Production, Railways, Science and Techonolgy, Textile Industry and Water and Power would be members of the Committee.
The notification said that the Minister for Information and Broadcasting, the Advisor to the Prime Minister on Petroleum and Natural Resources, Minister of State for Production, Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, Governor of the State Bank, Chairman of the Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan , Chairman of the Board of Investment, Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Water resources and Agriculture, Secretaries of the Commerce and Communication Divisions and the Secretary of the Economic Affairs Division would be invited by special invitation for all items of the agenda.
According to another Cabinet Secretariat/Cabinet Division Notification, the Prime Minister also reconstituted the eight-member Executive Committee of National Economic Council (Ecnec) with Federal Minister for Finance and Economic Affairs Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh as its Chairman.
Other ECNEC members would be Minister for Communication Dr Arbab Alamgir Khan, Minister for Science and Technology Mir Changez Khan Jamali, Minister for Water and Power Chaudhry Ahmad Mukhtar, Balochistan finance minister, Balochistan's representative on NEC, of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa's Senior Minister for Planning and Development and Power and its representative on NEC, Senator Muhammad Ishaq Dar Representative of Punjab on NEC and Sindh's Representative on NEC Hussain Mirza. According to the notification, the Prime Minister also directed that following federal and provincial officials would attend Ecnec meetings by special invitation for all items of the agenda.
Federal Government:
1-Mir Israrullah Zehri, Minister for National Food Security and Research.
2-End.Shaukatullah, Minister of State for Frontier Region.
3-Haji Ghulam Ahmed Bilour, Minister for Railways.
4-Makhdoom Shahbuddin, Minister for Textile Industry.
5-Mir Hazar Khan Bijarani, Minister for Inter Provincial Co-ordination.
6-Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission.
7-Secretary of the Economic Affairs Division.
8-Secretary, Finance Division.
9-Secretary, Planning and Development Division.
10-Secretary, Statistics Division.
Provincial governments:
11-Chairman of the Planning and Development division, government of Punjab.
12-Additional Chief Secretary, Planning and Development department, government of Sindh.
13-Additional Chief Secretary, Planning and Development department, government of Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa and;
14-Additional Chief Secretary of the Planning and Development department, government of Balochistan. Other officers of the federal and provincial governments as well as the governments of Azad Kashmir, Gilgit-Baltistan and Fata would be invited to Ecnec meetings on 'need basis', the notification said.
Half of the Ecnec members would be the quorum for its meetings as provided in Article 156 (4) of the Constitution for the meetings of the National Economic Council (NEC). Ecnec would be provided secretariat assistance by the Cabinet Division.