He stated this while inaugurating the 2nd two-day international conference titled "Competition Enforcement Challenges and Consumer Welfare in Developing Countries" here at a local hotel on Thursday. The event has been organized by Competition Commission of Pakistan (CCP) in collaboration with Competitiveness Support Fund/USAID. Chairperson of CCP, Rahat Kaunain Hassan also spoke on the occasion. The theme of the conference was, "Competition Enforcement Challenges and Consumer Welfare in Developing Countries." The conference will provide a rare opportunity to hear from internationally acclaimed experts on competition law from the Americas, Europe, Africa, Far East and South Asia. The local panellists include representatives of the consumer right associations, business community, Competitiveness Support Fund, and the Government of Pakistan. The conference participants include senior management members of corporate firms from across all sectors of the economy, legal community, academia, autonomous bodies, state-owned enterprises, other public and private institutions and the Government of Pakistan. The conference also aims to examine the status of competition enforcement in various jurisdictions with particular reference to the emerging economies such as Pakistan. Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that present regime inherited a sluggish economy from previous government in 2008 as the Current Account deficit was at 8 percent of the GDP while Fiscal deficit was at 7.3 percent with high inflation. He added that due to prudent fiscal and economic policies of the government the economy has now on the right track as both internal and external sectors of economy are resilient despite shocks like floods in the country. He said that good competitions laws are vital to promote business environment and good regulatory framework for the promotion of economy in the country. He added that it is the job of the government to ensure good polices and regulatory frame-work for the private sector to promote national economy. The Minister for Finance said that government wanted to involve private sector to run business affairs while the government would provide good regulatory and macro economic frame work and sufficient business environment to them achieve this objective in the country. He said that government has empowered provinces by providing them extra amount of Rs.300 billion under the 7th National Finance Commission Award (NFC) in order to enable the provinces to send more on social sector like health, education and people welfare related projects. He reminded that government wanted targeted subsidy to the poor segment of society for their social protection and during the current budget Rs.60 billion have been allocated under the Benazir Income Support Programme (BISP) for the benefit of the poor. Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh said that media is free for comment and criticize in Pakistan, judiciary is working independently while the office of Chief Accounting Officers or Public Accounts Committee is headed by the leader of the opposition. He added that the government is open and independent and working for the welfare of the people in the country. He appreciated the CCP for holding this important conference in collaboration with CSF and USID for the benefit of the country. The Chairperson of CCP speaking on the occasion highlighted the achievements of the Commission for promotion of competitive business environment for the welfare of the people. The conference will conclude tomorrow (Friday).