National asset: Special attention being paid to honing youngsters’ skills: CM

Shahbaz meets new WB Director Patchamuthu Illango

LAHORE: Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif said on Tuesday that the government was implementing a comprehensive programme to promote economic development.

The chief minister made the remarks while meeting the new World Bank (WB) Pakistan Director Patchamuthu Illango. Sharif said revolutionary programmes had been introduced to revamp health and other social sectors. He said various programmes were being effectively run in the sectors with the assistance of the WB.



Sharif said the nation’s youth were its assets. He said special attention was being paid to honing their skills. The chief minister said a special programme was being implemented with the assistance of the Department for International Department (DFID) and the Punjab Skills Development Fund to train youngsters in accordance with national and international market needs. The chief minister requested the WB to consider the prospect of supporting the annual skill development of 0.5 million youngsters.

Those present on the occasion agreed to promote cooperation between the government and the WB in the skill development, health, education, agriculture, irrigation and other sectors. The chief minister said no stone would be left unturned to raise the province’s economic growth rate to eight per cent by 2018. He said the government had been striving to ensure that a balance was maintained in development across the province’s urban and rural areas.

The chief minister said that the government had set a target of imparting skills to two million youngsters by 2018. He said scores of programmes were being implemented to empower the young. Sharif said a target of providing scholarships to 100,000 gifted students from disadvantaged backgrounds through the Punjab Educational Endowment Fund had been realised. The chief minister said another 100,000 would be awarded scholarships next year.

He said special attention was being paid to promote capacity building in public departments. The chief minister said the potential of information technology was being harnessed through the promotion of e-governance.

Sharif said the nation had been grappling with an energy shortfall in addition to the challenge of terrorism. He said effective measures had been taken to rid the nation of terrorism. The chief minister said work on scores of power generation projects was in progress. He said this would enable the nation to overcome the energy shortfall. Sharif said the government had been striving to eradicate electricity load-shedding as overcoming it would hasten the pace of economic growth.

Illango said stellar initiatives had been introduced in the Punjab for the peoples’ welfare. He said the World Bank would continue to cooperate with the government to promote socio-economic development. Illango said World Bank officials had praised the Citizen Feedback Monitoring Programme.

He said the programme had been playing a pivotal role in facilitating the provision of quality services to citizens. Illango said the chief minister had made a profound contribution towards the welfare and progress of the province’s denizens.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 7^th, 2015.