PESHAWAR
The 35th AGM and four-day Conference of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE), on “Opportunities to Excel: Now & the Future”, hosted by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), in collaboration with the Institute of Management Sciences (IMSciences) on Monday formally began in the IMSciences Peshawar.
The AGM and Conferences of the PSDE was inaugurated by Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb, President and CEO of HBL.
The Conference is being sponsored by the World Bank Group, CPEC Center of Excellence, the Bank of Punjab, Friedrich-Ebert-Stiftung (FES), Gul Ahmed Textile Mills Limited, NPO Pakistan, HBL, PPAF, Saif Group of Companies, PMIC, and the Bank of Khyber.
Dr. Nadeem Ul Haq, Vice-Chancellor PIDE and president of the PSDE, in his presidential address, expressed his gratitude for the overwhelming participation and magnanimous support from IMSciences. Dr. Nadeem said in this Conference we would not talk about macroeconomics, IMF, poverty, aid, taxes, welfare, equality and so on.
Dr. Haque said that the returns to education in Pakistan are also very low, as 50% of graduates with a university degree do not gain much by getting higher education.
The question then arises, what are the opportunities that we are offering our youth. These factors are resulting in highly discouraged workers and significant dropout rates.
Vice-Chancellor PIDE said that opportunities for the youth are squeezed because the government is present everywhere and in every market.
He apprised the audience that according to PIDE research, the government’s footprint on the economy is approximately 60-80% of the economy.
In his inaugural address, Mr. Muhammad Aurangzeb, President and CEO HBL, expressed his immense happiness to be able to come to the Conference and support this initiative. Coming all the way from Karachi just to attend this conference is worth it, he remarked.
Earlier, in his welcome address, Dr. Muhammad Mohsin Khan, Director welcomed PIDE team and all the participants to the Conference and assured PIDE its full support till the closure.
Dr. Idrees Khawaja, Secretary PSDE, presented the secretary’s report of the PSDE. He welcomed all the participants to the 35th AGM and Conference of the PSDE and PIDE, hosted in collaboration with IMSciences, Peshawar.
