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”.
By such frequent foreign visits and participation in the internationally important gatherings 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, please
Pakistan was among those countries which have a demographic dividend but due to a mismatch of skills and a stagnant job market, the country was unable to harvest it. It was estimated that almost 60 percent of the labour force was aged between 15 and 29 years of age. Despite this demographic dividend, the country was facing a high rate of youth unemployment. It was imperative to design policies to promote self-employed schemes and the private sector. Besides, another somewhat serious major challenge was the employment rate of the youth Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET), a Labour Force Survey conducted in 2020-21 had revealed an urgent need for addressing this employment gap.
Small and Medium -sized Enterprises ISMEs) are recognized as a crucial force in poverty reduction, contributing to job creation, elevating living standards, and playing a pivotal role in ensuring fair income distribution.
The National SME Policy, drafted by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA), aimed at sustainable growth of small and medium enterprises through job creation, export enhancement and bolstering contribution to the national economy.
Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has just paid a three-day official visit to Cairo, Egypt, where he actively participated in the 11th Summit of the Development-Eight Countries on the theme ” investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy”.
Addressing the gathering of number of world leaders, the PM said that the investment in the youth and SMEs was crucial for Pakistan’s socio-economic progress, emphatically added that the investing in the youth served as a blueprint for collective prosperity, youth brings energy, fresh ideas and creativity, whereas SMEs create jobs, foster innovation, and promote entrepreneurship , by investing in the youth and SMEs we can build inclusive and robust economies that are ready for the global challenges of today and tomorrow, and that the youth and SMEs were the 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, and that they are focussing on IT training on a mass scale to equip the youth with the necessary tools to connect with the digital world and capitalise 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 as support the youth and SMEs across the borders.
On the sidelines of the Summit, PM Shehbaz Sharif held his first bilateral meetings with host President Abdel Fttah Al-Sisi, Iranian President Masoud Pezeshklan, Bangladesh Chief Executive Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus and indonesian President Prabowo Subianto besides Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan and exchanged views as how to further promote and strengthen Pakistan’s relations with their respective countries in different sectors and fields to through best of mutually beneficial measures.
By such frequent foreign visits and participation in the internationally important gatherings 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, please.
