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Implementing Partners:
Ministry of Planning
Development and Reform
Government of Pakistan
Message from the Prime Minister
I am very pleased that, Ministry of Planning, tion in our agricultural value-chains. East Asian
Development, and Reform, along with partners countries - such as South Korea, Taiwan, Thailand,
from Ministries of Industries and Production, and Malaysia - that have achieved rapid economic
Science and Technology, and Higher Education success in the last quarter of the 20th Century did
are launching the Pakistan Productivity, Quality, so by adopting conscious, calibrated, and
and Innovation (PQI) Initiative. The PQI Initiative sustained efforts to upgrade the capacity and
has been longtime coming and is something the capability of their sectoral platforms. The
country is in a dire need of. In the last five years of example of the Standards Productivity and
this Government, Pakistan has broken through its Innovation Board (SPRING) in Singapore is a case
low growth rate of around 3% and has now in point and is an inspiration for Pakistan's own
reached 5.8% - highest recorded by the country Productivity, Quality, and Innovation Initiative. We
for the last 13 years. But as we aim to break free of have been very fortunate to have benefited from
the 6% threshold, we must also re-double our the advice and insights of experts from the Asian
efforts to forge ahead with even greater resolve Productivity Organisation in helping design the
so that we could lift this country to heights never PQI Initiative.
achieved before.
Today, we live in a time when the economic (and
Our prosperity and future well-being depends on not military) might of a country is the source of its
the competitiveness of our economic actors - true strength. Countries are known and respected
within industry, services, and agriculture - to not for how many bombers and tanks they own
compete in and command a share in the global but how strong and fast growing their economies
market and to do "more with less" locally. This can are, how digitised their government is, and how
only be achieved through a sustained and many unicorns they create. Countries that do not
conscious effort to upgrade the capabilities and produce anything that the world values find
capacity of our sectoral platforms to make them themselves at a terrible risk of being overrun and
better and more productive than those of our forgotten by those that do. It is, therefore, impera-
competitors. Competitiveness depends on tive that we pay attention to building true
productivity, quality, and innovation and before economic strength through investment and
these ideas could be fully operationalised by our capacity building of our industries and sectors.
businesses they must become embedded in our
culture and work ethic - in other words, within We must also evolve a political consensus on
ourselves as individuals, within our communities, what is important for the future our this country,
and within the broader society at large. our younger generations, and the generations not
born. While we may disagree on political matters
We must internalise, as a nation, and as people, and finer points of policy, we must all agree on a
the PQI mantra of working "harder, better, and basic economic blueprint for achieving a prosper-
smarter" to create true impact around us. ous Pakistan and I am confident that enhancing
our productivity, quality, and innovation must be
We must embrace modern approaches such as an important part of this national economic
cluster-based strategies for the development of agenda.
our industry and strive for maximum value-addi-
Ahsan Iqbal
Pakistan PQI Initiative
The East Asian Tigers - such as Singapore, Taiwan, Thailand, and Malaysia - have
long recognised the value of a productive, quality, and innovative workforce and
have encouraged and rewarded relentless pursuit of productivity and value. The
Standards, Productivity, and Innovation Board or SPRING Singapore was created
in 1996 and charged with the task of enhancing the competitiveness of enterpris-
es to help the city state achieve its economic goals. SPRING identified 25-30
priority sectors and helped implement targeted interventions to build the competi-
tive capacity within each sector. Similar interventions have taken place in other
regions in Europe and North America as well.
Today, Pakistan stands at the cross roads in its journey of economic development
and prosperity. With our macro-economic fundamentals stabilising (i.e. energy
shortage addressed, economic growth at 5.7%, and CPEC presenting a major
regional opportunity) Pakistan's economy is ready for a take-off. However, this will
only materialise if we can systematically upgrade the capacity and competitive-
ness of our agricultural, industrial, and service platforms and bring them at par
with peer countries in the region and around the world, failing which the
aspiration of becoming a middle income country within a decade is likely to
remain beyond our reach.
The PQI Pilot being launched today will test the ability of a number of government
agencies as well as industry and sectoral associations, international donors,
specialists and consultants to work together as part of one national effort focused
to enhance the competitiveness of 5 priority pilot sectors, namely, surgical
instruments, trucking, food processing, gems and jewelry, and value-added
textiles.
• Capture the ‘low hanging fruits’ to deliver a real improvement in the PQ&I
baselines;
• Create the credibility for the PQI initiative and build momentum;
• Ensure that the core team quickly climbs a steep learning curve; and
• Allow time for the broader PQI initiative (20-25 priority sectors) to planned
and phased in.
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Pakistan PQI Initiative
Most importantly, while the pilot project is being executed, the Project Manage-
ment Committee shall work with key statakeholders to flesh out the details of the
broader PQI strategy for the next 5 years (starting July 2020). This will require
detailed analysis and planning, stakeholder engagement, and strategy develop-
ment and subsequent approvals through the CDWP/ECNEC in early 2019.
Identification,
Establishment Creation of
Buy-in, and
of National PQI Initiative
Strategizing
PQI Steering Management
for Pilot
Committee Structure
Sectors
Launching of Periodic
Conferences,
PQI Frame- Review of
Training, and
work and Performance
Awareness
Initiative in Pilot
Campaign
(Press Conf.) Sectors.
Launching of Approval of
Prime Minis- National PQI
ters Excel- Policy & Plan
lence Award (2020-2025)
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Pakistan PQI Initiative
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Pakistan PQI Initiative
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Pakistan PQI Initiative
The project shall seek to achieve its objectives through the deployment of
cross-Departmental Teams that will work on a set of pilot sub-sectors. 4-5
sub-sectors have been chosen from Industry, Agriculture, Services, and Public
Sector as pilots. The knowledge gleaned through implementation across a small
number of companies in these pilot projects would then be utilized to strategise a
much larger intervention involving larger number of organisations across multiple
(20-25) priority sectors. The pilot projects shall seek to capture low-hanging fruits
that could be achieved without much investment in capital equipment and
primarily through training, capacity building, advising/guiding/mentoring, and
monitoring and evaluation.
In addition to the core task of implementing PQI initiative across pilot sectors, two
important elements constitute the pilot phase of the PQI Initiative.
First, PQI Initiative shall engage with some of Pakistan’s most productive,
quality-conscious, and innovative companies through a ‘PQI Flagship Company’
Programme. The Flagship Company Programme shall enlist no more than 2
companies from each of the 20-25 sectors into a process of benchmarking,
learning, and capacity-building for the rest of the sectors. PQI will engage execu-
tives and experts from the PQI Flagship Companies to help improve and lift other
companies within the sector. In exchange, these companies shall be provided
benefits such as international benchmarking, national and international visibility,
ability to provide thought leadership on policy, and special audiences with senior
government leaders such as Prime Minister, Minister for Planning, Development
and Reforms, Minister for Finance, Chairman FBR, etc. The PQI Flagship Company
Programme shall be designed and executed by the Planning Commission.
Second, a Prime Minister’s Excellence Award will be introduced in the private and
public sector organizations of Pakistan. This model shall be launched in the public
and private companies along the lines of the Malcolm Baldrige National Quality
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Pakistan PQI Initiative
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Ministry of Planning
Development and Reform
Government of Pakistan
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