ECDF compiles recommendations for merged districts economic growth

An important meeting of the Economic Cooperation and Development Forum (ECDF) held under the auspices of Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) in collaboration with United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and USAID here Wednesday.

Besides, the representatives of the UNDP and USAID, officials of the federal, provincial governments and local stakeholders attended the meeting at large. The Focal Person of the KP Government for the economic development of the merged districts of the erstwhile FATA, Ghazan Jamal Orakzai was chief guest on the occasion.

SMEDA, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Industries and Production has partnered with UNDP for providing technical support in implementation of its FATA Economic Revitalization Programme in the newly merged areas. One of the key components of this project is ECDF that is aimed at bringing together key public and private sector stakeholders and provide them a platform to discuss challenges and opportunities of the newly merged districts (NMDs) that can be harnessed for accelerated economic growth.

The first meeting of the forum was held in the last week of August 2019. The purpose of the forum was to identify challenges faced in the economic growth of the merged areas and then framed recommendations for their removal. During the first meeting, the participants of the meeting were divided into six thematic groups including regulatory mechanism, entrepreneurship, investment & innovation, banking & finance, skill development & job placement, economic infrastructure and marketing & communication. During their separate meetings the thematic sub groups have discussed issues creating hurdles in the economic growth of the area and prepared possible intervention for each thematic area separately. The recommendations prepared by the thematic groups were shared with the participants of the meeting. The recommendations and suggestions presented by the participants were also heard and then assured of the inclusion of further such proposals in the final document.

Addressing the participants of the forum, the Focal Person of the KP government for the merged districts, Ghazan Jamal Orakzai assured that the after review of the recommendations, the government will initiate steps for their implementation. He said that the provincial government is not only keen for taking practical steps for the development of the merged districts rather is also anxious for provision of hefty funds in that regard. He said that the residents of the tribal districts have business-oriented approach and the network of the businesses of tribesmen is ample proof of it.

The Focal Person said that the provincial government is making all-out efforts for provision of business friendly environment to the people of tribal districts and will extend both legislative and institutional support as well in this regard.