October 19, 2006	Thursday	Ramazan 25, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Oct 18: Industries and Production Minister Jahangir Khan Tareen has said that the government is committed to developing the engineering sector and bring value to it.

“This is my commitment to Pakistan,” he said while speaking to officers of the Engineering Development Board (EDB) here on Wednesday. He said the EDB had a vital role to play in this direction and the work done so far by the board was commendable.

“The EDB is different now than before,” the minister said and praised the work done by the board for the development of new ginning machine, transport, tariff, etc.

He advised the officers of the board to speed up and work more aggressively.

The minister directed that regional offices of the board in Karachi (partially operational) and Gujranwala should be established speedily and assured them of availability of necessary funding.

He promised to increase interaction with officers of the board and announced his next meeting on November 3.

Earlier, EDB CEO Imtiaz Rastgar informed the minister that the board was not working as a department as there was interaction between various sections. He said the board had taken many initiatives for the development of sub-sectors of the engineering industry and positive results were emerging.—APP