Daily Times

Pakistan faces the daunting task of transforming its large number of young people into a demographic dividend.

Unfortunately, the country’s economic opportunities somehow have not kept pace with its rapid population growth and changing age structure. However, there was some reason for optimism given by the federal government’s efforts to improve employment prospects for young people through initiatives such as the ” Prime Minister’s Youth Business and Agriculture Loan Scheme” and the “Prime Minister’s Youth Skill Development Programme.”

Due to a mismatch of skills and a stagnant job market, Pakistan has been unable to harness the demographic dividend.

It was estimated that almost 60 per cent of the labour force was aged between 15-29 years of age. Despite this demographic dividend, the country was facing a high rate of youth unemployment. It was imperative to design policies to promote self-employed schemes and the private sector. Besides, another somewhat serious major challenge was the significant rate of youth Not in Education, Employment, or Training (NEET ), a Labour Force Survey conducted in 2020-21 revealed an urgent need to address this employment gap.

, Small and Medium-sized Enterprises (SMEs) are recognized as a crucial force in poverty reduction, contributing to job creation, elevating living standards, and playing a pivotal role in ensuring fair income distribution.

Due to a mismatch of skills and a stagnant job market, Pakistan has been unable to harness the demographic dividend.

The National SME Policy by the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) aimed at sustainable growth of small and medium enterprises through job creation, export enhancement and bolstering contribution to the national economy.

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has just paid a three-day official visit to Cairo, Egypt, where he actively participated in the 11th Summit of the Development Eight (D-8) Countries on the theme “Investing in Youth and Supporting SMEs: Shaping Tomorrow’s Economy.”

Addressing the gathering of several world leaders, the PM said that the investment in the youth and SMEs was crucial for Pakistan’s socio-economic progress, emphatically added that investing in the youth served as a blueprint for collective prosperity, youth brings energy, fresh ideas and creativity, whereas SMEs create jobs, foster innovation, and promote entrepreneurship, by investing in the youth and SMEs we can build inclusive and robust economies that are ready for the global challenges of today and tomorrow, the youth and SMEs were the key drivers of economic development in any society.

During his address, the PM highlighted the salient features of the PM’s Youth Programme and the PM’s Youth Business and Agricultural Loan Scheme adding the government had distributed billions in loans enabling the young Pakistanis to start and scale their businesses, we are focussing on IT training on a mass scale to equip the youth with the necessary tools to connect with the digital world and capitalising the opportunities and become job-creators instead of job-seekers., pointedly mentioning Pakistan was home to one of the largest freelance communities while referring to the government’s efforts for empowering the IT sector.

The PM further opined that the Summit offered the D-8 countries a valuable opportunity to share their best practices, pool resources and create such programmes that support the youth and SMEs across the borders. On the sidelines of the Summit, PM Shehbaz Sharif held his first bilateral meetings with host Iranian President Masoud Pezeshklan, Bangladesh Chief Executive Prof Dr Muhammad Yunus and Indonesian President Prabowo Subianto besides Turkish President Recept Tayyip Erdogan and exchanged views as to how to further promote strengthen Pakistan’s relations with their respective countries in different sectors and fields to through best of mutually beneficial measures.

Such frequent foreign visits and participation in the internationally important gatherings of world leaders such as the D-8 Summit of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif certainly and surely not only put forth Pakistan’s points of view on important international challenges, issues and concerns but also greatly help in building, promoting and strengthening bilateral mutually beneficial relations with more and more countries around the globe, increasing importance in the comity of nations and eliminating chances of its being isolated in any manners whatsoever.

The writer is a Lahore-based freelance journalist, columnist and retired Deputy Controller (News), Radio Pakistan, Islamabad and can be reached at zahidriffat@gmal.com