ISLAMABAD, Jun 10 (APP):Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said that 11 National Economic Missions, approved by the NEC under the “Uraan Pakistan” vision, would serve as the central framework for the country’s development agenda. Briefing the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he said the Ministry of Planning, under the supervision of the Council, would prepare comprehensive …
11 Economic Missions to drive national development agenda: Ahsan
ISLAMABAD, Jun 10 (APP):Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Professor Ahsan Iqbal on Wednesday said that 11 National Economic Missions, approved by the NEC under the “Uraan Pakistan” vision, would serve as the central framework for the country’s development agenda.
Briefing the National Economic Council (NEC) meeting, chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, he said the Ministry of Planning, under the supervision of the Council, would prepare comprehensive roadmaps and implementation plans for the missions, while dedicated teams would also be constituted with the approval of the prime minister.
He said the government had placed human resource development at the heart of its development strategy to address key economic challenges and build a competitive economy.
Giving an overview of national development priorities, he stressed that Pakistan’s economic progress should be treated as a national emergency in view of prevailing challenges.
He said human resource development remained the weakest link in the country’s development framework and required focused attention for sustainable growth.
The meeting reviewed all 11 missions, including Export Mission, Resource Mobilization and Tax Reform Mission, “Produce in Pakistan” Mission, Agriculture Value Chain Mission, Energy, Water and Environmental Resilience Mission, e-Pakistan and Artificial Intelligence Mission, Human Capital and Skills Mission, Housing and Construction Mission, Social Protection and Poverty Reduction Mission, Multimodal Connectivity and Logistics Mission, and Investment Facilitation Mission.
Ahsan Iqbal said the Constitution empowered the NEC to coordinate national development between the federation and provinces, making regular quarterly meetings essential for sustained growth. He added that all chief ministers had expressed support for a more active and strengthened role of the Council.
He said the Planning Ministry had been tasked with developing performance indicators for key economic sectors and monitoring implementation.
Despite fiscal constraints, he clarified that development funds would be utilized strictly in line with national priorities to ensure maximum efficiency and impact.
He underlined the need for timely reforms to strengthen economic foundations and ensure long-term growth. Proposals relating to reforms in the National Finance Commission (NFC), balanced population growth measures, and incentives for better-performing provinces were also under consideration, he added.
Ahsan Iqbal said federal and provincial governments must work in close coordination to address national challenges, adding that the NEC had formally declared human development as the central pillar of development planning across the country.
The meeting was informed about revised economic performance indicators for fiscal year 2025-26. During the year, Rs820 billion were being spent under the federal Public Sector Development Program (PSDP), Rs2,938 billion under provincial annual development programs and Rs355 billion on state-owned enterprises (SOEs).
The NEC approved a total national development outlay of Rs3,669 billion for fiscal year 2026-27, including Rs1,000 billion for the federal PSDP, Rs2,218 billion for provincial development programmes and Rs451 billion for SOE programmes.
It also approved a GDP growth target of 3.7 percent for fiscal year 2025-26 and set a target of 4 percent for 2026-27. The Council directed all relevant ministries, provincial governments and public sector organizations to maintain close coordination with the Planning Ministry for effective implementation of the Annual Plan 2026-27.
The minister also presented the performance report of the Central Development Working Party (CDWP) and the Executive Committee of the National Economic Council (ECNEC) covering April 2025 to March 2026.
During this period, CDWP approved 116 development schemes worth Rs316 billion, while ECNEC approved 72 schemes valued at Rs5.117 trillion.
He further presented a report on monitoring and evaluation of mega development projects, informing the meeting that a new monitoring and evaluation policy had been introduced, including a pilot project for assessment through Artificial Intelligence (AI).
