The government will be show casing its much touted reform laden New Growth Strategy (NGS) before international audience at the two day international conference on Framework for Economic Growth Pakistan here on July 13 and 14. The Planning Commission and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) will be jointly hosting the conference. UN Assistant Secretary General, and UNDP Assistant Administrator and Regional Director for Asia Pacific Ajay Chhibber, Deputy Chairman of the President’s Delivery Unit for Development Monitoring and oversight, Indonesia Heru Prasetyo, Malaysian Industrial Development Authority Chairman Sulaiman B. Mahbob, National Economic Advisory Council Secretary General, Malaysia Norma Binti Mansor, George Mason University Professor Philip Auerswald, GIZ Programme Coordinator, Cities Development Initiative for Asia, Philippines Emiel A. Wegelin, Urban Development Unit, World Bank Belinda Yuen, Executive Director, Bangladesh Rural Advancement Committee (BRAC) Mahbub Hossain would be participating in the conference.
The issues to be discussed in the conference include, implementing governance reforms civil service reforms, openness and competitive markets, results based management in public sector, creative cities and urban development reforms, productivity and innovation, connecting to compete and youth and community engagement. These sessions would be moderated by top anchor persons of private television channels.
The international experts, parliamentarians, government officials, donors, business community, scholars, and civil society organisations would participate to give their recommendations on the implementation of key reforms identified by the NGS. The challenges in implementation of the NGS strategy are major structural reforms required for reforming the civil bureaucracy, level playing field for all in the industrial and trade sectors by doing away all licensing and anti competitive practices, and promoting domestic commerce by turning cities into engines of economic growth by improving infrastructure and improving connectivity.
The country is facing many challenges, including a high fiscal deficit that has kept inflation rates at threatening levels, heavily regulated markets, keeping private investment away, and poor productivity of public and private investment leading to a persistently low savings rate.
The amalgam of the boom-bust growth pattern has deteriorated poverty and inequality levels. There is also an increased vulnerability due to frequent environmental disasters, security problems, energy bottlenecks, and weak implementation of social services programmes. However, it notes that despite these constraints, opportunities do exist as Pakistan has a young labour force that could be utlised for triggering economic development.
The challenge is to provide this labour force education with opportunities. Regionally, Pakistan has lost its skilled work force to the Middle East, Europe and North America. With the labour force expanding by three per cent every year, the government is simply unable to arrange wage employment across the board. Emphasis must shift towards creating opportunities for self employment with better connected and competitive markets, cities, and communities.
