As Planning Commission Private Sector Development Member Asim Saeed said, the planning ministry, as the government’s investment arm, is keen to match private sector demands with the Public Sector Development Program (PSDP).
In order to do so, the private sector will have to be open in order to be able to integrate its demand-based proposals into the PSDP through the related ministries, he said.
His comments came during a meeting of the Business and Enterprise Sub-Committee of the Planning Commission’s National Advisory Committee. Also speaking on the occasion, Chairman of the Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) Rahat Kaunain Hassan, endorsing the importance of a mapping exercise to recognise the needs of the private sector, stressed that due to Covid-19, the CCP had not received any report of an industry being uncompetitive. “This shows our industrial sector’s resilience,” she said.
In the meantime, Abid Qaiyum Suleri, Executive Director of the Sustainable Development Policy Institute, said that better collaboration and cooperation between the public and private sectors would take an hour to address the numerous issues facing the private sector.
One such platform that can serve as a bridge between the two sectors is the sub-committee. This bridge is critically important, particularly after Covid-19, to encourage trade and business activities,” he added.
Representatives from various industrial sectors expressed hope that after the first wave of Covid-19 their market practises were being normalised.