Asian body vows support for improving skills in Pakistan

Suggests creation of strategic foresight unit to cope with challenges

ISLAMABAD: Asian Productivity Organisation (APO) Secretary General Dr Santhi Kanoktanaporn has vowed support for Pakistan in skill development for promoting innovation in productivity improvement through its technical expert services for different sectors.

“APO will promote bilateral and multilateral alliances among its 20 member countries; the private sector needs to be taken on board to run an effective productivity movement in Pakistan,” he said while talking to Federal Interior Minister Ahsan Iqbal.



Besides Iqbal, the APO secretary general, during his visit to Pakistan from February 19-21, also held meetings with Minister of State for Industries and Production Sardar Muhammad Arshad Khan Leghari, Planning Commission Deputy Chairperson Sartaj Aziz, the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry and the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry.

He suggested that Pakistan should have a strategic foresight unit to cope with future challenges like the unit that Singapore developed in 1996.

Responding to the proposal, Iqbal said the foresight unit could be developed under the umbrella of the Ministry of Planning and Development with support from APO’s technical expert services.



He praised the assistance given by the APO for developing a framework for the Pakistan Productivity, Quality and Innovation (PPQI) initiative by deputing Dr Woon Kin Chung from Singapore in January last year.

In the meeting with Sartaj Aziz, the APO secretary general highlighted the importance of National Productivity Organisations (NPOs) in developing countries.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 22^nd, 2018.

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