PESHAWAR: The Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) will convene the third meeting of the Economic Cooperation and Development Forum (ECDF) on March 12 to share recommendations prepared by the six thematic groups on different sectors in tribal districts with the members of the forum.

Provincial finance minister Saleem Taimur Jhagra is likely to chair the meeting, while adviser to the chief minister on industries Abdul Karim Khan and special assistant on excise & taxation Ghazan Jamal would be the guests of honour.

ECDF is the USAID-funded project being implemented by the UNDP in collaboration with Smeda for providing technical support in implementation of UNDP’s Fata Economic Revitalisation Programme (FERP) in the newly-merged areas. ECDF is one of the key components of FERP project.

According to a statement issued here on Friday, the purpose of the forum is bringing together key public and private sector stakeholders and provision of a platform to discuss challenges and opportunities of the newly merged areas that can be harnessed for accelerated economic growth.

The thematic groups constituted on August 29, 2019 were tasked with preparing recommendations for bringing improvement in sectors, including regulatory mechanism, entrepreneurship, investment & innovation, banking & finance, skills development & job placement, economic infrastructure, marketing & communication.

Published in Dawn, March 7th, 2020