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Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Federal Minister for Privatisation & Investment
chaired here today the second meeting of the "Prime Minister's Task Force on
Poverty Alleviation and Employment Generation" constituted by the Prime
Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali.
The Chairman of the Task Force Dr. Hafeez Shaikh said that the studies carried
out by the three Sub Committees had revealed that during 2000-2001 the poverty
ratio remained 32.1 %, which need to be curtailed through implementation of
the government's ongoing progressive economic and investment policies for the
creation of new job opportunities initiated by the President General Pervez
Musharraf.
He said that the economic growth was a dominant factor for the poverty
alleviation and substantial employment generation, which could be achieved
through improvement of skills and human resources, investment in public and
private sectors and NGOs and targeted programmes for poverty reduction.
Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh further stated that the recommendation of the PM's
Task Force on PAEG should be practical and both of short term and medium term.
He said that the Task Force should now prepare draft presentation for the the
Prime Minister for the poverty reduction and employment generation.
The Task Force also reviewed the current status of poverty and unemployment in
the country, assessed the impact of public sector development and related
programmes on employment generation and poverty alleviation and the government
policies and programmes for poverty alleviation and employment generation
through private sector development and discussed various options for
improvement and acceleration in the existing programmes.
The Task Force also reviewed presentations from DFID, National Database &
Registration Authority (NADRA), Chief Economist Planning Commission Dr.
Pervaiz Tahir, Dr, Mushtaq and the three sub committees. The next meeting is
fixed in early January 2004, prior to the finalization of the recommendations
within a month.
The Task Force including Nine members from public sector Dr. Nasim Ashraf,
Chairman NCHD, Dr. Ishrat Husain, Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Mr. Javed
Sadiq Malik, Secretary Planning & Development, Mr. Waqar Masood Khsn,
Secretary Economic Affairs Division, Dr. Ashfaq Hasan Khan, Economic Advisor,
Finance Division, Dr. A.R. Kamal, Director PIDE, Dr. Nuzhat Ahmad, Director
Applied Economic Research Centre, Chairman, Planning & Development, Government
of Punjab/ Additional Chief Secretaries, Government of Sindh, NWFP and
Balochistan and Mr. Shaukat Hayat Durrani, Additional Secretary (EA), Prime
Minister's secretariat and seven members from the private sector Mr. Farid
Rehman, Peshawar, Dr. Akmal Hussain Lahore, Dr. Salman Shah Lahore, Mr. Shahid
Kardar Lahore, Dr. Mushtaq Mirani, Hyderabad, Ms. Saadiqa Salahuddin Karachi
and Malik Naeem Khan from Quetta attended the meeting.