Planning Commission (PC) Deputy Chairman Dr Nadeem- ul-Haque stressed that Pakistan needs to maintain the growth rate of seven percent for 20 years for the provision of jobs to its increasing population which will be more than doubled by 2050.
He was addressing the inaugural ceremony of the two-day International Conference on Contemporary Issues in Business Management-2011 organised by University of Central Punjab (UCP) on Monday. Chief Executive Officer, Orient Advertising Pvt Ltd Syed Mahmood Hashmi and Pro Rector, UCP Dr Syed Tahir Hijazi also spoke on the occasion.
He said that that it is not so much a lack of hardware infrastructure but the appropriate management of national resources that remains the core issue. Haq said that unfortunately since 1972 we were unable to maintain our growth rate and there was no consistency in our growth rate adding that we need consistent growth rate for more then a decade to provide jobs and achieve economic prosperity. He said that the overall growth of other South Asian countries was better than Pakistan which should come as a wake up call.
Deputy Chairman Planning commission stated that the most important thing is productivity which means the appropriate utilisation of national resources and unfortunately we have lowest productivity rate in the world. He said that projects do not lead to growth.
By giving the example of development of new campuses of universities he said we need professors and teachers to develop these campuses adding that without professors what is the use of these campuses. He also said for growth we need a conducive environment and innovative ideas. He underlined that investment come in markets and it is the government’s responsibility to foster markets and facilitate it by giving subsidies.
He termed mismanagement the biggest headache for the economy. He also drew analogy between the economy and the game of cricket which has a set of principles in which the government’s role is like an umpire which provides a level playing field to all the stakeholders.
Haq underlined that we should adopt both long term and short term measurers for the betterment of our economy. He said in short term measures we have to take steps to over come our energy crisis and the solution of our management issues lies in privatization and running our institutions totally in a professional manner. He further said in organizations where for the time being where privatization is not possible they should be given autonomy so that that they should be run in a professional manner.
While lauding the role of UCP in imparting quality education, Haq said that university has established its repute in a very short time. He also said that in developed countries focus of the universities is on research and on management skills.
Syed Mahmood Hashmi discussed the role of corporate sector in the business of Pakistan. Prof. Khalil Muhammad of UCP thanked the partners of the conference including Pakistan Today.
