ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday constituted the National Coordination Committee on Tourism to implement the National Tourism Strategy, for boosting tourism and creating employment.

Special Assistant to the PM on Overseas Pakistanis and Human Resource Development Sayed Zulfikar Abbas Bukhari will be convener of the committee.

Secretaries or representatives from ministries of industries and production, interior, defence, communications, aviation, religious affairs and inter-faith harmony and climate change, all chiefs or additional secretaries, the chairman of Evacuee Trust Property Board, the deputy governor of the State Bank of Pakistan and the managing director of the Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation will be its members.

According to the Prime Minister Office, the committee will act as a focal point for inter-provincial, inter-ministerial, inter-department and inter-agency coordination to resolve implementation issues with respect to tourism sector’s development.

Discusses proposals for improvement in system for provision of subsidised commodities to the poor

With secretarial support of the cabinet division, the committee will review integration of provincial and regional policies regarding actions towards implementation of the National Tourism Strategy.

Mr Bukhari will brief the prime minister fortnightly on overall progress on implementation of his directives as the committee meets every two weeks.

The committee will devise a strategy to ensure affordable domestic tourism in a systemic manner.

It has been tasked with doing geo-mapping of all tourist spots and profiling of hospitality business, related products and services.

The committee will identify policy and legislative impediments to tourism development and give recommendations to create an enabling environment for the sector.

It will devise an effective regulatory and implementation mechanism of National Minimum Standards while ensuring its monitoring and coordination with all stakeholders for strict compliance.

The committee will also work to promote tourism investment through public-private partnership, small and medium enterprises and with access to capital besides overseeing availability of the International Standard Feasibility for viable projects.

Its other areas of work include suggestions on formal training for skilled human resource development and issuing instructions to relevant ministries, departments and stakeholders for coordination.

Besides, Prime Minister Khan presided over a meeting on the government’s system of providing subsidy on basic commodities to the weaker and low-income groups more effectively.

Speaking on the occasion, he said it was foremost duty and top priority of his government to enable the weak and poverty-stricken segments of society to meet their basic requirements.

Special Assistant to the PM on Social Protection Dr Sania Nishtar, the finance secretary, the chairman of the National Database and Registration Authority and other senior officials attended the meeting, which discussed various proposals for improvement in the government’s system for provision of subsidised basic commodities to the poor and low-income groups of society.

The prime minister directed the special assistant, the finance secretary and the Utility Stores Corporation to finalise proposals for provision of targeted subsidy on daily-use items. He said that government was striving to ensure this system functioned more effectively, transparently and well-targeted. It would be ensured that the money should be spent on subsidy judiciously, he added.

Mr Khan regretted that in the past the deficiencies in the system to provide subsidies were completely neglected due to which undeserving segments of society also took undue advantage from it.

Meanwhile, Punjab Board of Investment and Trade (PBIT) chairman Sardar Tanveer Ilyas Khan praised the prime minister’s decision to promote tourism.

In a statement, he said Prime Minister Khan had provided a strong footing to the tourism industry by forming a national committee aimed at realising the full potential of the tourism industry. “Through tourism, trade and investment, Pakistan’s economy will be further strengthened, where Public-Private Partnership will be encouraged and international firms will also invest in the country,” the PBIT chairman added.

Published in Dawn, August 27th, 2020