Pakistan in top 10 in trade dynamism, market flexibility,

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RECORDER REPORT
ISLAMABAD (September 16 2007): Pakistan has been listed among top 10 countries in the world business dynamism and market flexibility, according to a 'Competitiveness Support Fund' (CSF) report, issued here on Saturday. The report says that Pakistan has shown serious efforts in improving competitiveness ranking which the World Economic Forum measures on performance basis of any country.

It said that Pakistan's private sector played a pivotal role in making Pakistan competitive in the world market. The report said that CSF undertook a number of initiatives during the last over one year to help Pakistan get fit in global market. It engaged public and private sector leaders to address the economic issues jointly.

CSF is an independent body established in 2006 to reposition Pakistan's economy on a more competitive global footing. It is a joint initiative of Ministry of Finance and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID)1.

The precursor work identified several gaps in important sectors of the economy. CSF proposed a series of interventions to accelerate the adoption of practical competitiveness-building initiatives in Pakistan. The gaps lack innovative approaches, linkages between academic community and industry, poor dialogue on policy and reform issues, slow commercialisation of innovation and weakness in the legal framework for a viable economic environment.

CSF is meant to help Pakistan achieve the goal of a competitive economy by providing input into policy decisions, improve regulatory and administrative frameworks and enhancing public-private partnerships. It will also provide technical assistance and co-financing for initiatives related to entrepreneurship, business incubators and private-sector led initiatives with research institutes and universities that contribute to creating a knowledge-driven economy.

CSF activities will help the producers to ultimate product quality. By obtaining better value and better prices for quality products, and improving co-operation throughout the Pakistani economy, CSF will contribute to poverty alleviation by providing more income for producers and better employment prospects for employees.

The government has included, for the first time, competitiveness into poverty reduction strategy. Its salient features were private sector development, intensifying deregulation, privatisation and liberalisation, enhancing competitiveness and productivity, special economic zones, value-addition in agriculture and riding the globalisation wave in export markets.

CSF also carried out a study on special economic zones (SEZs) by benchmarking Pakistan against China, India, Malaysia, Vietnam and Thailand. Globalised economies require policies based on de-regulation, privatisation and liberalisation. This theme requires reduction in tariff barriers and custom duties for imports, the prices and increase in quality of the products for the consumers.

CSF has developed an action plan on unifying the policies and promoting the effective creation of special economic zones in Pakistan. This action plan includes developing an Act on Special Economic Zones which is based mostly on the Indian model and includes the legal and institutional framework for establishing and effectively operating the SEZs, incentives for developers and investors, standards for SEZ approval and the role of private sector and provincial and federal governments.


Copyright Business Recorder, 2007