TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE COMPLETION REPORT

TA DESCRIPTION (Background and Rationale)
During the early 1990s, large fiscal and external imbalances together with long-term
structural problems in Pakistan’s economy have caused serious economic instability, eroded
foreign exchange reserves, and undermined investors’ confidence. Given this situation, the
Government of Pakistan (GOP) requested the ADB to provide a TA program to examine the most
important macroeconomic and governance areas and provide the Government with specific and
practical policy recommendations from a long-term perspective over the next 15 years. The GOP
also wished to learn from the experience of high-performing Asian economies and requested that
the TA undertake a comparative analysis of Pakistan and these economies.
The GOP, the ADB, and the World Bank (WB) jointly initiated in 1995 a study entitled
“Pakistan 2010” to prepare a long-term development strategy. The ADB and the WB, with the
concurrence of the Government, agreed on a division of labor covering the topics to be studied.
Under this agreement, the ADB intensively looked into issues related to long-term socio-economic
development strategy, governance, private sector-led industrialization, technology and productivity,
trade liberalization and export expansion, while the WB examined issues on human resource
development, infrastructure development, implications of the conclusion of the Uruguay Round on
the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT) and the environment.
TA OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE:
In order for Pakistan to smoothly follow an efficient path to industrialization, it firstly needs to
foster the private sector investment market development and encourage exports under a liberal
trade regime. Furthermore, it needs to streamline regulations and practices to become more
effective in moving toward a dynamic and competitive economy.
The TA aimed to systematically analyze the above and to prepare policy recommendations
from a long-term perspective, covering the period until 2010. The end product would be a longterm
strategic development plan dealing with economic goals, specific policies, and their time
frame. The TA undertook a comprehensive study to (i) define socioeconomic development targets
over the next 15 years in Pakistan; (ii) identify developmental challenges, obstacles and parameters
that will pursue these targets; (iii) formulate development options and scenarios; and (iv) examine
strategically important areas and provide policy recommendations based on sound theoretical and
empirical analysis.
TA INPUTS EVALUATION:
Five international experts and five domestic experts were recruited for a total of 42 personmonths
to implement the TA. All the consultants were competent and delivered their research
results according to the terms of reference.
The Government, for its part, established the Pakistan 2010 Programme Unit at the Ministry
of Planning and Development in order to successfully undertake the TA. The Government also
appointed a Minister for Pakistan 2010 to implement the TA program. A TA inception workshop
was organized followed by a mid-term review workshop to formally launch the Bank project and to
highlight its importance to the Bank and to the Government.
TA OUTPUTS EVALUATION:
The main outputs of the TA included 6 individual reports on the following topics: (i)
Enterprise 2010 – Realising Pakistan’s Full Potential, a holistic summary of all the main reports; (ii)
Socio-Economic Progress in Pakistan to 2010; (iii) Private Sector-led Industrialization; (iv) Trade
Liberalization and Export Promotion; (v) Building Pakistan’s Technological Competence; and (vi) An
Agenda for Effective Governance.
The principal output of the Study was (i) findings and conclusions on the development
experiences of the East and Southeast Asian economies as well as those of Pakistan; (ii) proposed
policy measures to enable Pakistan to tackle the developmental challenges of an increasingly
competitive, open and globalized international economy; and (iii) suggestions for the management
of change, including institutional changes where needed.
The consultant’s Draft Final Report was submitted to the Government and the ADB in
November 1997. Subsequently, the consultant’s Final Report was submitted in April 1998. The
final report was endorsed by the ADB’s Publication Committee for printing as an ADB publication.
However, with the political uncertainty in 1998/1999 and the subsequent change in Government in
October 1999, no agreement was reached between the Government and the ADB on the nature of
the final document, the statistics to be used and the report projections. Finally, in July 2000, the
ADB decided to print and make available the consultant’s Final Report and take no further action
towards publishing a Project Report by Oxford University Press. Copies of the consultant’s Final
Report were subsequently provided to the Government for future reference.
TA OVERALL ASSESSMENT/RATING:
Based on the TA, the Government announced its ‘Pakistan 2010 Programme’ in March 1998.
In addition, the TA contributed to the formulation of the Ninth 5-year Development Plan which
covers 1999-2003. By contributing to the development strategies and the plan, this TA assisted in
the formulation of policies for the promotion of economic growth, poverty reduction, and governance
reforms. The overall rating of the TA is generally successful despite the failure to publish a formal
GOP/ADB Project Report.
MAJOR LESSONS LEARNED:
Major operations of the ADB in Pakistan are now geared towards the main concerns of this
TA including trade reforms, judicial and legal reforms and governance. The program could be
considered as the ADBs continuing effort in preparing for Pakistan’s new millenium.
Close working relationships with counterpart staff and other key Government agencies were
a key to the successful implementation of the TA. Extensive consultations and dialogue through
stakeholders consultations by the Executing Agency (EA) as well as with ADB staff, were also
made at the national level to ensure that the voices of all sectors were represented. These were
found to be very effective in achieving the TA’s objectives.
However, during the implementation of the TA program, it was found that more strengthened
ownership of the EA was vital for expediting implementation without delays. In addition, failure of
coordination and cooperation and departmental rivalries between Ministries made it impossible to
agree on ownership and follow-up.