ISLAMABAD, Dec 22: Privatization and Investment Minister Dr Hafeez Shaikh said on Thursday the opening up of Pakistan’s telecom market to the world had increased the teledensity ratio from 3 per cent to 15 per cent.

He stated this while delivering his inaugural address on the occasion of 7th Annual Conference of the South Asia Network of Economic Research Institutes (SANEI), organized by Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) here.

The minister said that infrastructure issues were connected with the role of the government, adding, however, the government’s role should be restricted to formulate policies.

Acknowledging the government’s role in the economy, the minister said that in South Asia region we lacked effective network and governance, according to a press release issued here.

It was for the economists to suggest the focus of the governments while discussing ownership, finance, regulation and management, he added.

“We need to pool our resources and to form think-tanks to deliberate on proper utilization of public resources and to improve governance,” Dr Hafeez further stated.

Welcoming the delegates, Dr A. R. Kamal, Secretary Coordination SANEI, informed that SANEI’s headquarters had been shifted from New Delhi to Islamabad and this conference was the first of its kind in Pakistan.

He remarked that inadequate infrastructure resulted in slow growth and the conference would focus on the governance and infrastructure issues, which was being participated by Pakistan, India, Sri Lanka, Nepal and other member states.

In his keynote address, Prof. T. N. Sirinivasam stressed upon the need to enhance economic relations among the member countries on bilateral basis.

Potential growth of each country was under constraint due to insufficient infrastructure, he said.

Later talking to the representatives of the media, Dr Hafeez Shaikh said that talks with Etisalat were on and good progress was being noticed whereas handing over modalities were also being discussed, which would be tabled before the Privatization Commission Board and the Cabinet Committee on Privatization (CCoP) for a decision.

He termed the privatization of PTCL a good signal for Pakistan’s economy and replied that a team of Etisalat would soon visit Pakistan.

He further stated that efforts were being made to complete the privatization of PSO, PPL, Pakistan Steel, NITL and some fertilizers plants in the first quarter of 2006 while EoIs for the privatization of Sui Northern Gas Pipeline Limited (SNGPL) and Sui Southern Gas Company (SSGC) have been invited.

Under the ‘Privatization for the People’ programme, the government was considering for new public offerings, he added.—APP