07 September 2004	Tuesday	21 Rajab 1425

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ISLAMABAD, Sept 6: Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz has promised to offer an olive branch to opposition parties which boycotted his recent election to the office and vowed to make a 'very serious effort' to seek consensus on national issues.

In a panel interview with Dawn on Sunday evening, he promised to be a tough task-master for his newly formed big cabinet and improve policies in what he plans to be a result-driven and 'slightly different style of governance' during more than three years he has as prime minister.

In the wide-ranging discussion, he also spoke about the government's economic performance to which he contributed as finance minister for five years as well as plans to improve ties with neighbours and big powers.

"Policies are not cast in stone in the sense that there is always room for improvement," he said. "We will continue to improve them across the board, whether it is the social sector, whether it's relations with the opposition."

He said he wanted to carry the opposition along or 'at least have discussions with the opposition' on all major issues. "I think what we need is to change from point-scoring and... disagreement for the sake of disagreement," he said.

"If there are certain policies which benefit the country then irrespective of which party one represents, we ought to support them... if other parties have good, sound suggestions we will consider them very seriously. I think it's an attitude of going forward and a maturity of the political process."

The prime minister regretted that while many countries had a national consensus on some of their policies, "in our case we have hardly have any policies where we have any consensus. I am not saying we will be able to achieve that, but certainly we will make a very sincere effort."

He would not say at the time how he planned to formally approach opposition parties inside or outside parliament but, in a reference to People's Party Parliamentarians, Pakistan Muslim League-N and the Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal, he said he personally had "good relations with... all three of them".

"We have informal dialogue all the time. So we see how that develops," he said. He side-stepped a question on whether his search for an understanding with the opposition could include approaches to former prime ministers Benazir Bhutto and Nawaz Sharif now living abroad.

"Without getting into specifics... we will look for areas where we can get agreement or there is a chance for... (agreement)," he said. "Any time you build a relationship you try to look for areas where you have a higher probability of getting consensus and agreement. That's what we focus on, and in time you will see this unfolding."

"But dialogue and discussion is on with everybody," Mr Aziz said, though making it clear he was referring to politicians now in Pakistan whom he knew for a long time. "So we continue our dialogue and we will see how it progresses."

Mr Aziz described his induction as the country's third prime minister in less than two years as part of an evolutionary process that he said was aimed at taking Pakistan into the 21st century "with policies and governance which will allow us to leverage our full potential".

He said he thought the change would augur well for Pakistan and added that "in the next couple of years we expect slightly different style of governance" in which all cabinet members and ministers of state would have clear goals. "We want merit and performance to guide the governance process in Pakistan."

The prime minister did not seem to be worried by the reported displeasure of former interior minister Faisal Saleh Hayat about losing his key portfolio in the new cabinet and instead called it a sign of 'healthy democracy' where people would comment in the open 'rather than talking behind your back'.

He said the ruling coalition led by the Pakistan Muslim League and also including the newly formed Pakistan People's Party and the Muttahida Qaumi Movement was 'very closely knit' though "you are bound to have some comments here and there" in any re-allocation of portfolios.

TARGETS FOR MINISTERS: The prime minister said clear goals would be set for ministers as well as secretaries of ministries to be monitored by him and 'people in my secretariat'.

"I will personally review the performance of each minister, minister of state and secretary together, and the goals have to be in sync," he said. "Now all three will have clear goals and... it is my job and their job to see that they are in sync, so they are not working at cross-purposes."

The prime minister said a letter would go out next week to these functionaries asking them to cite six to eight of their key priorities with deadlines to achieve their targets, in an unusual move that he said was "making a lot of people nervous".

This process, he said, would introduce an accountability of performance in which the chief executive would help ministers and other functionaries to succeed through dialogue with them.

He said his government would be 'result-driven' contrary to the previous culture of mere 'activity' in the shape of meetings and nodding without caring for results. "Result is what will matter (now)." This, he said, might be difficult in some ministries because of known 'intangibles' and easier in others. "But those are managerial issues which can be resolved."

BIGGER IS BETTER: The prime minister defended the large size of his cabinet of ministers and ministers of state totalling more than 60, calling it "totally in line with what we require".

"You could have had a cabinet half this size but then you would create bottlenecks." He said a country like Malaysia with a population of only 25 million people had 32 full ministers and as many ministers of state while Pakistan has a population of 150 million.

"If you create large monolithic ministries, then you create bottlenecks in execution and accountability gets defused," he said. "If you create clear identifiable ministries which have clear task, goals... it all fits in with the paradigm which is different than the past."

He said ministers looking after too many divisions would not be able to focus on their job. Ministers of state would act like junior ministers and given some specific responsibility and they would report to the minister. "That way you train somebody, you teach governance and you get a spare pair of hands."

TOUGH ON PERFORMANCE: The prime minister said a secretary, as the principal accounting officer of any division, would have a major role and targets synonymous with those of the minister and the minister of state.

"He can't hide, he can't be in what I call the ping-pong mode - transfer the file here and there." Mr Aziz said he would be "very tough on performance... because if we can't perform then really we have no right to be here".

He disagreed with a suggestion that big size contributed to failures of some previous cabinets and asked: "Did they have any goals, did they know what they are supposed to deliver, were they managed? The answer is no, no, no."

BALOCHISTAN: Mr Aziz said his government would start a political dialogue over the Balochistan situation through a recently set-up Senate committee or a committee "where all leaders will get together".

He said he thought nationalist parties in Balochistan needed to be engaged. "We need to work together to address their concerns, because I think they all want a strong Pakistan, they want more opportunities for the people of Balochistan, which is one of the most backward areas of the country."

Such an engagement and dialogue, he said, would "build a level of trust, based on which I think we can address some of the concerns and focus more on development, whether it is Gwadar (port), whether it is the coastal highway, whether it is all the mining opportunities and oil and gas exploration. We need to do more for Balochistan and Insha Allah we will do it."

FOREIGN POLICY: Dealing with foreign policy priorities, the prime minister said Pakistan always sought peace with all its neighbours including India, while maintaining its integrity and sovereignty and a sense of equality.

KASHMIR: He asserted that the real issue between Pakistan and India was Jammu and Kashmir, and said: "We want a solution which is durable and reflects the aspirations and wishes of the people of Jammu and Kashmir."

Asked if he was satisfied with the current pace of the peace process with India, the prime minister said in a veiled reference to the Kashmir dispute: "Well, I think we need to get now into the next phase where we get into some timelines."

While expressing satisfaction with the symbolic gestures from both sides, particularly the increase in people-to-people contact between the two countries, he emphasized: "We also feel we need to have substantive talks on Jammu and Kashmir so that this core issue heads towards resolution." He added: "I think other peripheral issues will take their own course."

AFGHANISTAN: Mr Aziz said the relationship between Islamabad and Kabul had been improving. Referring to the $1 billion trade with Afghanistan, he pointed out that Pakistan was today Afghanistan's largest trading partner. However, he admitted that on the political front there were some irritants.

"On the political front there are important issues that we are dealing with vis-a-vis Afghanistan, which is their concern that their internal security is affected by people who reside on this side of the border," the prime minister observed. He maintained that Pakistan had been very active in containing such movement from its side.

Terming the level of understanding and trust between the leadership of the two countries 'very good,' he stated: "This is a very special relationship which we need to develop and create a better level of trust."

He was of the view that a strong, stable and economically vibrant Afghanistan is good for its own people and also good for Pakistan. "It helps promote better relations, the migration issue gets less pronounced and economic advantage to Pakistan is also very positive," he said.

CHINA: The prime minister described China as Pakistan's 'key strategic ally' and said the bilateral cooperation extended to a whole gamut of areas including economy, culture, social and defence.

"We look to China as a major global economic power and clearly one of the key friends of Pakistan in that league," he held. "It is a very strategic relationship which we cherish," he added.

IRAN: The prime minister said one of the priorities of his government would be to enhance economic ties with Iran, which he described as a 'major' country.

He admitted that despite friendly relations, close proximity and strong political linkages, the economic linkages were almost non-existent. "We just have not focused on each other as much as we should have. We need a major push and I'm personally very committed to accelerating that process," he asserted.

Turning to the Middle East, Saudi Arabia, UAE, the GCC, Kuwait, Qatar, Bahrain and Oman, he said: "We have strong links with these countries and we need to build on them further." In a special reference to the GCC countries, he stated: "The GCC countries have been a true friend of Pakistan and we look to them as friends and allies.

BIG POWERS: Pointing to the 'big powers' such as the EU, United States and Japan, he stated: "I think all our relations with any country have to be based on our national interest and we have to create a mutuality of interest to develop relations."

Noting that diplomacy is all about creating common ground on major issues and building on those, he said: "That helps you resolve also issues where you cannot build a common ground." He emphasized that even though Pakistan enjoyed good relations with the major powers it needed to broadbase them so they were not merely 'transactional' relationships.

"Pakistan really has to position itself with these countries as a large Muslim country in a part of the world which is at the crossroads of Central Asia, Middle East and South Asia.

A country which can be an anchor as a major Islamic country, an anchor for this part of the world," was the prime minister's view. He believed that most of these countries realised that a strong, stable Pakistan was good for the peace in the region and peace in the world.

NUCLEAR PROGRAMME: In reply to a question, the prime minister declared: "Pakistan's nuclear programme is a guarantee for peace and we need to maintain it and develop it so as to ensure peace in the region."

Underlining the commitment to developing the country's nuclear programme, he made it clear that Pakistan's nuclear programme was 'strictly peaceful' and designed as well as meant strictly for its own needs. "We are also against any form of nuclear proliferation," was his emphatic assurance.

ECONOMIC ISSUES: Answering question about economic matters, the prime minister said the government was finalizing its strategy to deal with serious issues including the declining water resources and forging a consensus on a new National Finance Commission (NFC) award among the provinces.

"We have set up various groups which are working on various issues including water resources and the new NFC award", he said. "My government has a lot of plans to address a number of challenges currently being faced by the country."

He said the NFC would be reconstituted in "the next month or so" with a view to getting on board all the stakeholders and resolve the issue amicably. Efforts, he said, were previously made but unfortunately the new award could not be finalized due to differences among the provinces.

The prime minister expressed his hope that all matters pertaining to the NFC would be resolved before the next budget was announced. "We would start our efforts again and hope to achieve our objectives for giving an agreed formula over the issue," he said.

Similarly, the prime minister said, the issue of scarce water resources would be resolved in the light of recommendations of the Memon and Abbasi committees.

The Indus River System Authority (Irsa), he pointed out, was also trying to have a fair distribution of water among the provinces. But he made it clear that without building new storages it would be difficult to meet the serious challenge of reduced water.

However, he was non-committal over the construction of controversial Kalabagh dam or the Bhasha dam. "We still have to decide about it," he said, adding that a long-term strategy was being devised to increase water resources, including by building new reservoirs.

He said Pakistan had come out of a crisis situation by attaining economic sovereignty. Pakistan, he pointed out, used to live dangerously when coffers were empty due to bad economic conditions.

"But today nobody could browbeat us as we are no more vulnerable because we have attained our economic sovereignty in the first phase," he said, adding that in the next phase challenges like poverty and unemployment would be given a lot more importance.

He agreed that there were still economic pressures but believed they were not very serious and that the government would sustain those pressure by being consistent in its policies.

The prime minister recalled that the 9/11 events had gravely hurt the economic condition in the country. Exports, he pointed out, were down and the general economic climate was not good.

Replying to a question, Mr Aziz promised to put a dent on poverty and create more jobs by "heavily focusing on vocational training". This exercise, he believed, would provide a big number of jobs across Pakistan.

Asked about extending any relief package, the prime minister said there was no such proposal in the offing and recalled that the government had already increased the salaries of government employees and the pensioners.

The prime minister said efforts would be made to develop a sustainable system relating to healthcare and education. He said economic issues would receive more importance during his tenure as the chief executive of the country.

"We need to improve the quality of life of our people and this job will be done by achieving higher growth," he said, adding that six per cent plus GDP growth had been achieved during 2003-04.

He said that his government would also provide security, justice and new jobs to the people. Pakistan's construction industry, he said, had been offered a lot of incentives to help create new jobs in the country.

Talking about his newly appointed adviser on economic affairs, the prime minister said that Dr Salman Shah would enjoy the status of a federal minister and Minister of State for Finance Omar Ayub would work under him.

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