ISLAMABAD: A meeting was held under the chairmanship of Prime Minister Muhammad Shahbaz Sharif to review the progress of the Public Private Partnership Authority on the deployment of technical experts in federal ministries and departments and the strategy for foreign investment.

In the meeting, the Prime Minister clarified that institutional reforms of the federal government are among the top priorities and the government’s goal is to ensure digitization of the economy, right-sizing of institutions and deployment of technical experts on the basis of merit.

Taking a categorical stance, the Prime Minister said that any compromise on merit and transparency in the process of deployment of experts will never be acceptable. During the meeting, the Prime Minister was briefed by the Public Private Partnership Authority, which informed that so far, deployments on 15 technical posts have been completed, while the process of recruitment of experts on 47 more posts is also underway.

The meeting was informed that 30 candidates have been shortlisted for the appointment of Chief Executive Officers, Chief Finance Officers and Managing Directors in 7 key ministries and departments. The initial stages of interviews for appointments in the Petroleum Division and the National Vocational and Technical Training Commission have been completed.

In the briefing regarding the investment strategy, it was informed that the federal ministries have nominated focal teams while sectoral action plans for investment have been prepared for the information technology and telecom, railways and tourism sectors. Work on frameworks for more sectors such as food security, maritime affairs, minerals, industry, housing and energy is in the final stages.

The meeting was informed that pitch books for 18 different economic sectors have been prepared for potential investment projects with Saudi Arabia, the United Arab Emirates, Azerbaijan, Qatar and Kuwait to materialize partnership opportunities with these countries.

The meeting was attended by Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Ahad Khan Cheema, Federal Minister for Law and Justice Azam Nazir Tarar, Advisor to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar and relevant senior government officials.