President asks government to set up ministerial body: finalisation of privatisation proposals in four weeks

President Asif Ali Zardari has advised the government to set up a committee comprising federal ministers for Privatisation, Finance, Petroleum and Water & Power with representatives of private sector to finalise proposals for the privatisation of public sector enterprises within four weeks.
This he said during his meeting with delegation of Pakistan Business Council here at Aiwan-e-Sadr on Monday. The meeting was in continuation of President's earlier meetings with Pakistan Business Council, the recent held on April 29, to seek their input and full participation in overcoming economic challenges and for better economic management.
Those who were present during the meeting included Asad Umar, Abdul Razzaq Dawood, Ali S Habib, Atif Bokhari, Bashir Ali Mohammad, Farooq Shakoor, Iqbal Lakhani, Muhammad Mansha, Sikandar Mustafa Khan, Zakir Mehmood, Gohar Ejaz, Shahzad Ali Khan, Yasin Siddik, Ahmed Kuli Khan Khattak, Munir Kamal, Arif Habib and others.
Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Minister for Finance, Ghous Bux Khan Maher, Federal Minister for Privatisation, Syed Naveed Qamar Federal Minister for Water and Power, M Salman Faruqui, Secretary General, Muhammad Basharat Raja, Advisers to PM for Industries, D. Nadeem-ul-Haq Deputy Chairman Planning Commission, Hina Rabbani Khar, MOS for Foreign Affairs & Finance and other senior officials were also present during the meeting.
The President said that for the sustained economic development and recovery it was essential that the Government and business continue to partner in the formulation and implementation of economic development policies so as to create more business opportunities and to ensure continuity of policies. The President reiterated his call and underscored the need for business communities to step forward and create consensus about overcoming economic challenges and to own and ensure continuity of economic development policies.
He complimented Pakistan Business Council for their help in identification of major economic issues and for their endeavours to seek consensus of all stakeholders in order to tackle those issues. Lauding the role of businessmen, the President said that the businessmen were invaluable assets of the country and any meaningful economic development was not possible without their enterprise, co-operation and sincere input. The President said that law and order and energy crisis were the biggest challenges and the government was trying its best to address these issues in order to facilitate businesses in the country. He said that various reforms were being introduced to help the economy put on sustainable path of progress.
Representatives of Pakistan Business Council gave a detailed presentation with focus on the restructuring of state-owned enterprises, energy and equity market. The President welcomed the suggestions put forth during the presentations and said that the suggestions would be considered by the government for implementation.