The Center for International Private Enterprise (CIPE) has been working in Pakistan for the past eight years encouraging private sector-driven economic reform and increasing the role of the private sector in the country’s democratic process.
CIPE’s Pakistan office just released its 2014 Pakistan Activities Report, which profiles an array of innovative programs that encourage private sector inclusion in the policy-making process. Highlights include:
- CIPE partner the Policy Research Institute of the Market Economy (PRIME), an Islamabad-based think tank, developed three “scorecards” that track how well the government has implemented its economic reform agenda. The reports are available at http://govpolicyscorecard.com.pk/. These reports show that the government has made little progress toward implementing the reforms promised in its election manifesto.
- CIPE Pakistan began a new program this year that mobilizes the private sector as a leading force in reducing bribery, extortion, and other forms of corruption. CIPE organized activities with its partner the Overseas Investor Chamber of Commerce and Industry (OICCI) to highlight the anti-corruption and corporate compliance issues faced by mid-sized firms seeking to enter global supply chains, and provided training and tools to help these companies develop anti-corruption programs in their organizations.
- CIPE, its partners, and other organizations continued to organize activities to promote the culture of entrepreneurship in Pakistan. CIPE, in association with the Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry, organized a conference titled “How corruption hampers entrepreneurship?” Students from various universities participated in the discussions and developed a greater understanding of the importance of combating the corrupt practices that hinder business activity in the country.
- Four key chambers from Karachi, Islamabad, Gujranwala and Faisalabad organized the annual “All Pakistan Chambers President Conference.” This event provided the business community with the opportunity to discuss the government’s performance on economic reforms and share their concerns over the lack of progress in a number of areas.
- CIPE held workshops and seminars with women chambers to help them build their membership, strengthen their internal governance processes, and improve their management capacity.
- CIPE continued to work with partners such as the Institute of Chartered Accountants of Pakistan (ICAP), Securities and Exchange Commission of Pakistan (SECP), the World Bank, and International Finance Corporation (IFC) to press for the implementation of the Rules of Corporate Governance for Public Sector Companies, and to highlight how corporate governance can strengthen family-owned companies.
In 2015, CIPE Pakistan, through the support of its partners and with valuable guidance from its Project Advisory Committee, will continue to serve and strengthen democracy through private sector driven market-oriented reforms.
Read the full 2014 Pakistan Activities Report here.
Emad Sohail is Senior Program Officer for CIPE Pakistan.