ISLAMABAD: Minister for Planning, Development and Reforms Ahsan Iqbal on Tuesday reviewed proposals to finalise the 12th five-year plan.

The meeting, held at the Planning Commission, was jointly chaired by the Mr Iqbal and Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz.

Senior officials and members of the Planning Commission presented their recommendations for onward deliberations and final approval.

While commenting on the recommendations, Mr Iqbal maintained that the 12th-five year plan would set pace for an emerging and prosperous Pakistan through a knowledge-based economy and a clear roadmap envisioned in Vision 2025.

The minister directed that the upcoming plan should focus on modernising agriculture, health, education, basic and higher infrastructure, set tangible goals for uplifting social sector, poverty alleviation, services sector, increase exports and trade.

Mr Iqbal said a strategy should be devised for sustainable growth and economic stability.

He said that economic experts in the public and private sector need to brainstorm on how the country would grab maximum advantages from the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor to boost industrial sector and bring technological advancement in the country.

The plan would serve as an umbrella and would chart the progress of implementation once the socio-economic objectives were approved by the National Economic Council (NEC), said Mr Aziz.

He added that the commission would, in this plan, make efforts to incorporate the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for 2030 that were approved by the United Nations in 2015.

The 11th five-year plan (2013-18) will end on June 30 this year, while the next plan will be launched on July 1. The 11th plan, which was issued at a time when Pakistan was facing multiple challenges on the economic, security and development fronts, encompassed operational details of the `Pakistan Vision 2025’.

Published in Dawn, January 10th, 2018