HYDERABAD, Feb 25, 2010:  The Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) in collaboration with the Government of Sindh on Thursday organized a seminar aimed at highlighting the aims and objectives of the $30 million Sindh Development Fund (SDF).

The seminar was attended by Sindh government officials, local businessmen and growers, regional banking heads, members of different business associations and officials of the SDF’s Steering Committee, including its chairman Mr. Zubair Motiwala.

The SDF’s key aim is to transform the agriculture sector in the province. It is funded by the Government of Sindh and managed by CSF which is a joint initiative of the Ministry of Finance, Government of Pakistan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) established to reposition Pakistan's economy on a more global competitive footing. 

The Fund focuses on agriculture and agriculture-based food business (including horticulture, meat, dairy and fisheries) in the province in order to maximize the competitive advantage of Sindh, to promote investment and create sustainable jobs in agriculture related sectors.

Mr. Mansoor Ali Senior Project Manager of CSF gave a detailed presentation on the aims of SDF. He said in order to achieve its objectives SDF will work closely with financial institutions and assist the projects under SDF through its Credit Assistance window. “The idea is to reduce the interest rate in order to encourage investment in the agriculture sector.”

Speaking on the occasion, Mr. Mahmood Shah, a member of the SDF’s Steering Committee said that high cost of doing business was hindering competitiveness in the province. He pointed out that SDF would help reduce those costs.

Mr. Agha Jan, Secretary Agriculture, Government of Sindh said that through SDF prospective investors would be facilitated. “Our objective is to make it easier for people to invest in agriculture,” he said.

SDF has already pointed out a few areas that are important to the agri economy of Sindh like bananas, mangoes, guava, strawberry, dates, salvage farming/calf milk replacers, milking parlors and chili drying among others.

Later a string of questions from the participants were answered by the Steering Committee’s Chairman and CSF’s Senior Project Manager. 

In his concluding remarks, Mr. Motiwala said that the Government of Sindh wants to improve the lives of people in rural areas and help them increase yields and in turn their income.