CSF has made significant achievements in all its program areas:

1. Economic Policy & Regulatory Reform

• The State of Pakistan’s Competitiveness Report – The report is published annually in close collaboration with the World Economic Forum (WEF) and CSF is the partner institution of the WEF in conducting surveys in Pakistan for the Global Competitiveness Rankings.
• Federal Policy -- At the direction of the Prime Minister held explanatory meetings with all the heads of the administration (Federal Secretaries) of the relevant line-ministries about the actions to be taken towards improvements of the economic monitoring and indicators of competitiveness in the areas of their responsibilities. 
• Poverty Reduction -- CSF provides input into the work of the Ministry of Finance. Specific work has included e.g. Work on the Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP-II) and developed a pillar entitled “Crafting a Competitive Advantage that includes papers on globalization, private sector development, trade liberalization and value added in agriculture.
• Investment Promotion and Support to Board of Investment (BOI) -- With a view to increasing foreign and domestic private investment in Pakistan, the CSF has supported the BOI in the preparation of:
  
  • a mid-term Investment Strategy 2010 – 2015
  • a scheme of Revitalization of the BOI as an autonomous organization directly under the PM; and 
  • an Act on Special Economic Zones (“SEZ Act”).
    On May 12 2010, the draft SEZ Act was approved by the Cabinet; and on May 18 2010, both the Investment Strategy and the Revitalization plan were approved by the BOI Board chaired by the Prime Minister. The approvals include all substantive proposals prepared by the CSF. 
    In light of this progress, CSF will continue to support BOI in the implementation of 3 approved initiatives in line with the project proposal namely ‘INCREASING FDI IN PAKISTAN- A PROPOSAL TO ATTRACT INVESTMENTS AND BUILD CAPACITY OF THE BOI’ submitted to USAID on January 25th 2010. 
• Investment Strategy – includes the four windows of the Strategy, i.e.,
  
  • Launching a Public-Private Sector Dialogue (“PPD”) as a platform of structured co-operation between the GoP, the Provinces and the Business NGOs on private sector development policies and investment project development;
  • Devising a Pro-Active Investment Promotion Strategy with a focus on competitive investment projects and target investor countries (starting with USA as prime investor country for Pakistan) and identification of priorities for immediate action;
  • Strengthening BOI’s Investment Facilitation activities towards “one window” – operations with a focus on BOI’s Regional Offices; and
  • Launching the SEZ Program (see below).
    Checklists of Tasks have already been prepared; a paper on suggested “Main Operational Principles” will be available shortly. 

• Revitalization of the BOI – restructuring includes BOI Organization and building its administrative capacities, i.e.
  
  • Creating a new Executive Committee under the BOI Board at the Secretary level to steer and facilitate BOI’s programs, especially the PPD;
  • Transforming BOI’s present organizational structure into the new  Governance and Operational Structure approved by the BOI Board with the attendant appointments/recruitments of line managers and lead experts; and
  • Preparing a Capacity Development/Resource Mobilization Plan, including Human Resources, Technical Resources (IT) and a Network of Co-operating Organizations (topic has already been conceptualized in the Investment Strategy and a Checklist of Tasks has been prepared). 
• Special Economic Zones ACT -- Working with the Board of Investment, CSF has carried out an Action Plan on Special Economic Zones  benchmarking Pakistan with the countries in the region such as China, India, Thailand, Malaysia and Vietnam. Based on the benchmarking exercise CSF drafted an SEZ Policy for the GOP. The Policy was approved by the GOP in October 2008. Based on the approved SEZ policy an SEZ Act has been drafted with input from all relevant stakeholders from the public and private sectors in Pakistan. The SEZ Act was approved by the Cabinet on 12th of May, 2010. Since then, it has been vetted by the Ministry of Law and has been forwarded to the Parliament for consideration. 
• Drafting Rules and Procedures for effective Implementing the SEZ Act once adopted. 
  The SEZ Act is an “umbrella law”, i.e., implementing regulations and procedures are necessary to launch the SEZ program. These will have to be adopted by the “Board of Approvals” under the Prime Minister (the “BOA”) and prepared by the BOI as secretariat of the BOA. SEZ regulations and procedures cover:
  
  • Responsibilities and powers of SEZ bodies (Board of Approvals, Approvals Committee, Provincial SEZ Authorities, BOI, (private) SEZ Developers)
  • Rules of Procedure of BOA and Approvals Committee (the “AC”)
  • Delegation of powers from BOA to AC
  • Procedure for Zone Designations
  • Procedure for selecting Developers (tender procedure) and approving Developer Agreements (concession agreements); and
  • Procedure for bringing Existing or Approved Zones into the framework of the SEZ Act. 
• Financial and Service Rules for the BOI - CSF has assisted the BOI in preparation of its Financial and Service Rules.  The expertise provided by CSF was essential in completion of these important corporate documents as they serve as the foundation of the BOI’s ability to operate efficiently and in a transparent manner.  These efforts are a part of the larger revitalization and capacity building of the BOI being conducted with CSF’s assistance.
• Main operational Principles of the New BOI - These have been prepared by CSF for the BOI. The Principles evolve from BOI’s objectives and mandate under the BOI Ordinance, 2001 and are based on the Governance and Operational Charts as well as the Investment Strategy 2010-2015 presented to the 4th Meeting of the BOI Board. While not meant to qualify themselves as “Standard Operating Procedures”, the Principles represent a first step towards such procedures. These would in detail set out the work process for the various lines of activities of the New BOI in light of most successful  business practices of Investment Promotion Agencies (“IPA’s”) with a mandate comparable to that of the BOI. 
• Commercial Arbitration Law -- CSF led the drafting of a comprehensive law that combined all three components (domestic, REAO, and ICSID) into a single piece of legislation and submitted the bill to the Standing Committee in the National Assembly via the Ministry of Law.  After the passage of the 18th Amendment of the Constitution on 8th of April of 2010, domestic arbitration is now a provincial subject whereas international arbitration is a federal subject.  Therefore, the draft law was broken into its individual components.  The ICSID and REAO ordinances came up for re-promulgation and were recently approved by the National Assembly Standing Committee on Law and Justice.  During the process of approval in the Standing Committee, CSF experts provided support in addressing questions from the legislators.  CSF will continue to support the passage of these laws in Parliament to ensure that there is a strong framework for international arbitration that foreign investors can rely on to support their business ventures in Pakistan.
• Pakistan Innovation Board (PIB) -- Chaired by Dr. Sohail Naqvi, Executive Director of the Higher Education Commission and consisting of prominent members of the public sector, academia and the private sector has provided input into the National Innovation Strategy Framework and will champion reforms in the area of innovation. The First  Innovation Workshop took place in Karachi on the 4th of March 2010, the event was facilitated by Dr. Lars Eklund, and the discussion provided crucial input for the draft innovation strategy.  The Second Innovation Workshop was held in Lahore on 24th of May 2010, the participants discussed the draft strategy and added on to the conclusions reached in Karachi.
• National Policy Platform for Competitiveness and Economic Growth (NPPCEG) -- Chaired by Shahid Javed Burki and consisting of prominent members of the public sector, academia and the private sector has provided funding to Pakistani research institutions to carry out capacity-building research in economic issues of key importance to the Government of Pakistan. The Platform will also support the development of four centers of excellence performing research in the areas of public finance, firms and private sector development, social service delivery, and provincial development in Balochistan.
• Prime Minister’s Committee on Agriculture -- The Prime Ministerial Committee for Agriculture covers the entire spectrum of activity in the area of agriculture, livestock and food (including nutrition). The Committee is chaired by the Minister of State for Finance and Economic Affairs.  It has 22 members from the public sector, private sector and academia. The Secretariat is provided by the Competitiveness Support Fund.  CSF established this Committee in early 2009 and provided secretariat services to three meetings held on 5th March, 31st March, and 20th May 2009. As a result of the first meeting, four sub-committees were formed which will provide necessary guidance to the government.
• Pakistan Electronic Media and Regulatory Authority (PEMRA) -- CSF has achieved a considerable impact on the electronic media in Pakistan. Accomplishments include reducing the licensing requirement from 23 documents to only 7, reducing pre-qualification time from 30 days to 15, reducing the clearance time from 400 days to 45 and reducing the entire time frame for receiving a license to 67 days.  As a result PEMRA awarded 46 new FM radio licenses, 16 TV channel licenses, 232 cable distributorships and 2 landing rights for TV channels.

2. Sector Interventions & Competitiveness

• Motorcycle Industry -- Changes in motorcycle duties leading to an increase in domestic sales and increased exports: Completely Built Unit - The custom duty on CBU has been reduced from 90% to 80%. Completely Knocked Down – The rate of custom duty has been reduced from 30% to 20%. To increase the export Central Board of Revenue (now known as Federal Board of Revenue) agreed to reimburse the indirect duties, taxes and levies in the shape of R&D support. The weighted average of the reimbursed amounts comes to 10% of the Freight on Board (FOB) value of exported motorcycles.
• Sector Action Plans -- Developed action plans on the identification of the sectors that have competitive advantage and potential to grow, including agriculture and fisheries, automotive and special economic zones.
• Fisheries Sector--  
  
  • Karachi Fish Harbor Action Plan for Fish Quality and Value Adding
    • CSF has carried out an Action Plan for Fish Quality and Value Adding at Karachi Fish Harbor (KFH) by identifying the obstacles and problems that the harbor faces. 
    • The Action Plan identified a number of obstacles, foremost of which is that the industry is under threat from two sides
    • One is overfishing, which reduces the resource base and hence the yields. The other is poor quality control, which means that the value of the catch is not being maximized and much is being wasted
    • The CSF Action Plan has made a number of recommendations
  • Implementation of the CSF recommendations:
    
    • Reorganization of the management structure
    • Physical infrastructure rehabilitation 
  • Outcomes to date: 
    
    • A new KFH board of directors has been constituted
    • 50 stainless steel hand pallet trucks have been introduced along with plastic pallets of fish and related products from the jetty to the auction halls 1 and 2
    • Plastic crates have been provided to handle fish and fish products at jetties and the auction hall
    • A total of 89 boats, including 71 large boats and 18 small ones, have been upgraded or repaired 
    • A contract has been given to a private sector consultancy company to develop a master plan for the harbor 
  • Korangi Fish Harbor
    • CSF has further carried out an action plan on the Korangi Fish Harbor and proposed that it be declared a Special Economic Zone for sea food processing industry 
    • It further recommends that a specialized international company be brought in to manage fishing at the harbor and set up a warehouse for seafood catch to be connected with a prospective warehouse in Bishkek, Kyrgyz Republic as well as the transfer of the harbor’s ownership from the Federal to the Provincial Government of Sindh has also been suggested.
  • Sindh Coastal Study
    
    • At the request of the Sindh Government, CSF assigned one of its fisheries experts, Mr. Robert Lindley to carry out a survey of coastal fisheries in Badin and Thatta
    • Mr. Lindley looked at the feasibility of constructing a model fish harbor in the delta region. He also focused on the other pressing needs for fisheries development and improvements in the quality of fish being produced in the area
    • However, following the survey it is advised specifically against any large scale developments in the area.
    • The survey recommends that investments in smaller scale infrastructure, such as fully equipped small fish landing sheds and floating pontoons are far less risky in the delta environment and are beneficial to a large number of fishermen spread out over the whole delta area. 
      

3. Matching Grants & Business Incubator 

• Gems Sector Development/ Gems Processing Centre established in Northern Areas to introduce scientific lapidary skills and mining technologies and train existing and potential miners. Two centers are fully operational and providing skills training to local population.  (Total Project Cost: US$260,283) 
• Common Laboratory for Drug Formulation is established in Nowshera Industrial Estate for drug testing and quality control compliance to cGMP. The lab is completely operational serving local pharmaceutical units.  (Total Project Cost: US$301,947) 
• Value Addition in Milk Supply Chain for Baluchistan project was designed to empower farmers providing them market access and much needed support for the establishment of a high quality milk supply chain in Baluchistan.  Project is operational with collection centres in Pishin and Kuchlak and two sales centre in Quetta.  (Total Project Cost: US$598,166) 
• CFC for Cutlery polishing/ finishing is established for production of high quality exportable cutlery products. A new facility has been built with proper infrastructure. All the machinery bought either by the partners or CSF has been installed and test production is in the process. The Project will be fully operational from July 2010. (Total Project Cost: US$125,197)) 
• Common Facility Centre for Marble Processing & Training Centre aimed at moving the local industry towards mechanization and high quality products.  Machinery procured but could not be delivered due to security situation in the region.  Project is currently suspended with arrangements underway to divert the procured machinery to another site, possibly Marble City in Nowshera Industrial Estate. (Total Project Cost: US$113,975) 
• Medicinal Berries & Fruit Processing Unit will extract oil from Sea Buckthorn pulp, seeds and grape seed, by using state of the art ‘super critical carbon dioxide fluid extraction’ technology.  The extracted oils will be used in production of neutraceutical juices and medicine capsules. The state-of-the-art Super Critical CO2 Extractor has been installed in Lahore and test production will be started from July 2010. (Total Project Cost: US$369,000)  
• Mango Pack House project in Multan will enable the mango cluster in Multan to extract field heat from the mangoes and enhance their shelf life. This enhanced shelf life will enable farmers to export mangoes not only to Gulf but also to European countries (through METRO Pakistan) by sea freight which is approximately seven times more economical than by air freight. The project is approved by the Board of Directors and is awaiting disbursement from next year funding. (Total Project Cost: US$236,310)
• Meat slaughter House & Abattoir project in Patoki is a joint collaboration of private sector investors, University of Veterinary & Animal Sciences and Punjab Rural Support Program. This will be a containerized/mechanized slaughterhouse conforming to international food safety standards. The project is approved by the Board of Directors and is awaiting disbursement from next year funding. (Total Project Cost: US$966,470)
• The first Business Incubation Centre has been setup at University of Agriculture, Faisalabad (UAF). The inauguration ceremony was held in October 2009. CSF has partnered with HEC to establish business incubators in leading universities across Pakistan to provide facilities designed to assist businesses during their critical start-up period to become self-sustainable.(Total Project Cost: US$323,250)

4. Communications & Outreach 

• Innovation Journalism -- A total of 24 journalists have been sent for training on commercial journalism via the Innovation Journalism Program at Stanford University and the Competitiveness Institute based in Barcelona.
• Website -- record number of website hits and new pages inaugurated for National Policy Platform and Pakistan Innovation Board
• Media Coverage – unprecedented 19 television channels covering the first National Policy Platform for Competitiveness and Economic Growth (NPPCEG) event.
• 11 TV channels and 12 Newspapers covered the workshop on Pakistan’s Innovation Initiative recently organized by CSF in Lahore.
• Final version of a documentary highlighting CSF’s activities and achievements completed.
• Executive Opinion survey :  CSF submitted 220 Executive Opinion Survey forms to the World Economic Forum in Geneva to measure Pakistan’s ranking for the upcoming Global Competitiveness Report 

5. Venture Capital

• Industrial Venture Fund – An Action Plan has been prepared for the establishment of a $250 million privately managed, government-backed, growth capital fund to improve access to finance. 

6. CSF Partnerships

• Partnership with the World Economic Forum  -- CSF is the country partner institute of the World Economic Forum and conducts the annual EOS in Pakistan on their behalf. The media team collected a record number of surveys and was able to submit them well in advance of the deadline to the World Economic Forum to benchmark the global competitiveness rankings of Pakistan economy. Based on these rankings, CSF is closely working with WEF to publish the annual State of Pakistan’s Competitiveness Report.
• TDAP – Assisted Trade Development Authority in creating international linkages including with Central Asian republics. The workshops were held in February 2009 in Karachi, Lahore and Islamabad where the Pakistan’s commercial counselor in Kazakhstan briefed traders and business representatives on opportunities of the Central Asian markets. CSF is working with TDAP to facilitate Pakistani businesses to enter the Central Asian markets.
• Partnerships -- CSF signed MoUs for partnerships with the private sector, for instance the Pakistan Business Council, to work on ‘Revival of Manufacturing – Trade Aspects’ , with the Higher Education Commission (HEC) to promote knowledge based enterprise development, and CIPE – Center for International Private Enterprise to improve Corporate Governance in family owned businesses in Pakistan.