Inaugural Address

Abstract

Prof. Syed Nawab Haider Naqvi, Dr M. Ghaffar Chaudhry, Distinguished Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen: It is a privilege for me to inaugurate the Fourth Annual General Meeting of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists. I am pleased to note that within only five years of its existence the Society has evolved into a prestigious forum for a free and precious exchange of ideas among economists and policy-makers. I am told that through these annual general meetings 74 papers on various topics have been prepared and published, and that, in its Lecture Series on Development Economics, eminent international economists and demographers have read papers on leading issues in economics and demography. The literature created under the aegis of the Society furnishes useful insights into the functioning of the economy and has contributed to the comprehension of the problems of almost all areas of Pakistan's economy - agriculture, industry, trade, resource mobilization, etc. I am happy to note that the Society has helped to promote a scientific and pragmatic approach in policy-formulation and economic decision-making, and has enabled us to think systematically about the nature of the challenges posed and faced by Pakistan's economic development and about the response to this challenge.