PAKISTAN faces the daunting task of transforming its large number of young people into a demographic dividend. Unfortunately, the country’s economic opportunities somehow have not kept pace with its rapid population growth and changing age structure. However, there was some reason for optimism given by the federal government’s efforts for improving employment prospects for the young people through initiatives such as the “ Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme’ and the “ Prime Minister’s Youth Skill Development programme”. Pakistan was among the countries that had a demographic dividend, but due to a mismatch of skills and a stagnant job market, the country was unable to fully harness this potential. It was estimated that almost 60 percent of the labour force was aged between 15 and 29 years. Despite this demographic advantage, the country faced a high rate of youth unemployment. It is crucial to design policies that promote self-employment schemes and support the private sector. Furthermore, another significant challenge was the high rate of youth who were Not in Education, Employment or Training (NEET). A Labour Force Survey conducted in 2020-21 revealed an urgent need to address this employment gap.
Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are recognized as a crucial force in poverty reduction, contributing to job creation, elevating living standards, and ensuring fair income distribution. The National SME Policy, developed by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), aims to foster sustainable growth of SMEs by focusing on job creation, enhancing exports, and bolstering their contribution to the national economy. Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif recently completed a three-day official visit to Cairo, Egypt, where he participated in the 11th Summit of the Development Eight (D-8) Countries on the theme “Investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy.” Addressing the gathering of world leaders, the PM emphasized that investing in youth and SMEs was crucial for Pakistan’s socio-economic progress. He asserted that youth bring energy, fresh ideas and creativity, while SMEs create jobs, foster innovation and promote entrepreneurship. He highlighted that by investing in both, we can build inclusive and robust economies capable of meeting the global challenges of today and tomorrow, with youth and SMEs serving as key drivers of economic development in any society.
During his address, the PM highlighted the salient features of the PM’s Youth Programme and the PM’s Youth Business and Agricultural Loan Scheme adding the government had distributed billions in loans enabling the young Pakistanis to start and scale their own businesses, we are focusing on IT training on a mass scale to equip the youth with the necessary tools to connect with the digital world and capitalizing the opportunities and become job-creators instead of job-seekers, pointedly mentioning Pakistan was home to one of the largest freelance communities while referring to the government’s efforts for empowering the IT sector. The PM further opined that the Summit offered the D-8 countries a valuable opportunity to share their best practices, pool resources and create such programmes that support the youth and SMEs across the borders.
On the sidelines of the Summit, PM Shehbaz Sharif held his first bilateral meetings with the host President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi of Egypt, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshklan, Bangladesh Chief Executive Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto besides Turkish President Recept Tayyab Erdoðan and exchanged views as how to further promote and strengthen Pakistan’s relations with their respective countries in different sectors and fields through best of mutually beneficial measures. Such frequent foreign visits and participation in the internationally important gathering of the world leaders such as D-8 Summit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif certainly and surely not only put forth Pakistan’s points of views on important international challenges, issues and concerns but also greatly help in building, promoting and strengthening bilateral mutually beneficial relations with more and more countries around the globe, increasing importance in the comity of nations and eliminating chances of its being isolated in any manners whatsoever .It was a fruitful and productive visit by the PM indeed to say the least.
—The writer is a retired Deputy Controller (News), Radio Pakistan, based in Lahore.
(zahidriffat@gmail.com)
