Ayesha Saba

Development of skilled human resources and advancement of technology know-how hold the key to turning Pakistan into a developed economy, said Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of National Productivity Organisation (NPO) Mohammad Alamgir Chaudhry. Talking to WealthPK, he said that his organisation, a subsidiary of the Ministry of Industries and Production, was playing a pivotal role in making key sectors of the country more productive to compete with their international counterparts.

“The efficient use of inputs in any industry, human capital and production quality, all come under the umbrella of productivity, and any loophole or weakness in any of these components adversely affects the competitiveness of that industry,” the NPO chief stated.   He said the National Productivity Framework had four stages, including awareness campaigns, ways and means to achieve sustainable national productivity, design and development, and review of the implementation plan.

“Right now, we are at the initial stage of creating awareness among the youth and industrial community about productivity. For the purpose, walks, seminars and programmes are being organised in schools and colleges to sensitise the youth on the importance of productivity. The programme also includes training of some 400 industrial workers about the latest and new techniques in the industrial units.”

Alamgir Chaudhry said as they were following the Malaysian model of productivity enhancement, they had also engaged Malaysian experts to impart training to NPO staff, who then shared this knowledge with people in the field. He said that by instituting such frameworks, countries like South Korea, Malaysia and Singapore had transformed their economies into developed ones, and it was all due to their focused approach towards keeping their industrial sector relevant to the world market.

“Acquisition of latest technology coupled with availability of technical expertise can keep our industrial sector relevant to the international market,” Alamgir Chaudhry said, adding that the focus should be on the establishment of state-of-the-art, vocational training centres across the country to provide skilled manpower to the industry.

“To remain relevant and competitive in the international market, we need to focus on the technical behaviour of consumers, which means that we should keep on adopting the techniques and technologies to meet the changing demands and trends in the market,” he said. He further said NPO was also encouraging the industrial and other sectors to focus on export of finished goods as currently, Pakistan was exporting raw or semi-processed goods.

The NPO chief said that Pakistan was exporting raw leather or semi-processed leather, whereas the shoe sole sector alone in the world had a market size of $53 billion with Pakistan’s zero share in it. “Similarly, the post-harvest loss rate of agriculture produce in Pakistan is around 36%, and by adopting modern packing and preservation techniques, this loss could be avoided.”

“We are producing best quality mangoes, but when it comes to the export of mango pulp, our share in the market of 200,000 metric tonnes is negligible.” “We are aiming to build the capacity of our industrial sector to increase its productivity and to make it competitive in both local and international markets.”

Credit: Independent News Pakistan-WealthPk