October 14, 2006	Saturday	Ramazan 20, 1427

LYON (France), Oct 13: Minister of State for Finance and Chairman of the Competitiveness Support Fund (CSF), Omar Ayub Khan said that Pakistan’s GDP growth at 8.4 per cent produced a dynamic effect on the economic development of the country, creating new opportunities for employment and eliminating poverty.

Speaking at the concluding session of the 9th annual conference of the World Competitiveness Institute (TCI), organised in collaboration with the Chamber of Commerce and Industry Lyon, he said the private sector in Pakistan had been given incentives targeting economic growth.

Mr Khan said the CSF had been established as a joint venture between the government of Pakistan and the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) to address economic competitiveness issues of the economy, says a press release of the CFS Pakistan.

The state minister, who was representing a delegation consisting of professionals from the public and private sectors, said Pakistan's speeding economic development had increased its energy requirements, and to fulfill these, four mega dams would be constructed during the next 10 years. Together they are expected to produce up to 4,000mw of electricity and would earn the exchequer revenue of $4 billion annually.