February 18, 2006	Saturday	Muharram 19, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Feb 17: The Competitiveness Institute (TCI), a Spain-based group of cluster practitioners and experts, will hold a two-day conference on “Innovation, competitiveness and economic growth in Asia and Pacific” in Pakistan on May 15-16.

The moot has been organized by the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF) which is sponsored jointly by the USAID and Pakistan’s Ministry of Finance on 50:50 basis.

Official sources on Friday said that TCI president Lars Eklund would arrive in Islamabad on February 20 on a three-day visit to hold meetings with Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz, government officials, representatives from private sector and the heads of the key universities to discuss the regional conference and the international best practices on innovation and competitiveness.

TCI works to promote innovation-driven economic growth by fostering cluster-based development initiatives throughout the world. It has more than 400 members of leading competitiveness and cluster practitioners from all levels of governments and the private sector of more than 40 countries.

The conference is expected to provide Pakistan with an opportunity to showcase its competitiveness initiatives and efforts underway to improve its standing in the global value chain.

The CSF is being set up to upgrade skilled manpower and emerging professionals in increasing Pakistan’s competitiveness in the international market.

The fund will support pilot projects that contribute to advance good strategy, make a sector more competitive, and help the producer and the value chain to obtain better value and better prices at each point in that chain, contributing to more income for producers.