19th annual general meeting and conference The Pakistan Society of Development Economist.

Mahmood, Naushin

1. The Pakistan Society of Development Economists has completed its 20 years and has held 18 successful annual conferences so far. This is the 19th Annual Conference in the series, and I feel greatly privileged to present the Secretary's Report this year and update you on the Society's progress and activities.

2. The Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE) was set up in 1982 with the mandate to bring together development economists and provide an institutional framework for the effective dissemination of the research among scholars, economists, demographers, and policy-makers. The Society provides a forum for the much-needed communication and interaction between economists and other social scientists on vital economic and social issues facing Pakistan, and to suggest new initiatives for further research. The performance of the Society so far has proved its professional excellence and has successfully met the objectives for which it was created.

3. The membership of the society has increased steadily. Currently, it has more than four hundred members including Nobel Laureates; the members are economists, demographers, administrators, and other professionals working in different parts of the world. About 150 are members by virtue of their association with PIDE. During the last one year, 70 new members joined the Society, indicating its increasing strength and popularity over the years. The PSDE is highly indebted to all its members for their continued interest and support to maintain its professional standing, which is also owed to the hard work and devotion of a group of people at PIDE, in particular to the dynamic leadership at the top, whose constant guidance and direction has steered the Society safely on the road to success over the years.

4. During the past 18 such meetings, more than 700 papers have been presented in various sessions, covering areas like agriculture, trade and industry, fiscal and monetary policy, demographic and health issues, savings and investments, debt, governance, human development, gender, poverty, structural adjustment policies, employment," information technology, etc. The papers presented in the meetings are subsequently published in the Papers and Proceedings issue of The Pakistan Development Review each year, usually after being revised in the light of the comments and suggestions received.

5. The highlights of the PSDE meetings are the Distinguished Lectures by renowned scholars who are invited each year to make presentations on topics relevant to the theme of each conference. So far, more than 120 distinguished speakers have delivered lectures on various topics. These include three Nobel Laureates, Professor Lawrence R. Klien, Professor E. Malinvaud, and Professor Robert A. Mundell, as well as other distinguished scholars such as Professor T. N. Srinivasan, Professor Hans W. Singer, Professor M. Ali Khan, Dr Mohsin Saeed Khan, Dr William Summers, Professor Boris E. Bravo, and many others. Ever since its inception, the Society has dedicated two Distinguished Lectures to the memory of Quaid-i-Azam Mohammed Ali Jinnah, the Father of the Nation, and Allama Muhammad Iqbal, the poet philosopher. There are also other memorial lectures given from time to time.

Last year, the society held a forum on "The Economic Vision of Allama Iqbal", in commemoration of the year of Allama Iqbal under the chairmanship of his son, Dr Javed Iqbal, to pay tribute to our national poet and philosopher. This year a special session on "Madar-e-Millat [Miss Fatima Jinnah] and Women's Awakening" has been organised to recap and share thoughts on her role and contributions to women's uplift and involvement in development activities.

6. The 19th Annual Conference of the Society is an occasion for stocktaking of the work done at PIDE and elsewhere. Pakistan is faced currently with the twin challenge of achieving rapid growth which is equitable in nature and broad-based in approach so as to reduce poverty--an issue central to our macro-economic framework which calls for pro-poor growth policies. In view of this, the theme of this year's conference is: Institutional Change, Growth, and Poverty.

A lot of time and efforts are involved to structure and organise the conference programme, to review and select papers, and to collect relevant information and material. This year seven Distinguished Lectures are part of the programme, on topics relevant to the theme of the conference, including the one dedicated to the memory of Omar Asghar Khan economist and public figure. Besides, a presentation on "Politically owned Institutional Revival", by Mr Daniyal Aziz, Chairman, National Reconstruction Bureau, is a special feature of the conference. Moreover, the issues of governance, devolution, and national prosperity were discussed in another technical session to thrash out the emerging concerns of institutional change.

Up to the cut-off date, a total of 63 papers were submitted for technical sessions of the conference. Forty-one were selected after the screening process. Each paper was reviewed by 2 experts, and in case of disagreement, opinion of a third person was sought for the final decision. It may have been disappointing for those whose papers were not accepted to be a part of the programme, but the policy of merit and quality was strictly enforced to keep to the minimum standards. Hopefully, those who could not get into this programme will try harder next time. All the papers presented in this meeting would be put on the PIDE's website. However, the papers presented would be selected for publication on the basis of the comments received from the discussants and the feedback from the floor. It is, therefore, extremely important that all the discussants submit a copy of their comments so that we do not have to send them reminders or pester them for the discussant's report for publication. I hope that the three days of this conference have been useful and productive for all of you, although some of the sessions stretched beyond the scheduled time due to the interesting discussion generated by the presentations. Hopefully, we have accomplished the task successfully and met our objectives.

7. In the end, I would like to thank all the Federal Ministers who took the time out from their busy schedules to be here with us; and to all the members of the Board of Governors and Senior Fellows whose patronage all along has been a source of great strength and encouragement to the PSDE. Special thanks are due to all the distinguished speakers who have travelled from far-off places to participate and make their extremely valuable contributions to the sessions. We are also grateful to all the paper presenters for sharing their research, to all the discussants for their valuable comments on the papers, and to all the participants for attending the sessions. It would not be out of place here to thank the staff of PIDE, various organising committees, and other sections of the PIDE which worked day and night to make this meeting a possibility. Their names are too numerous to mention but their assistance has been commendable in putting this meeting together.

8. Lastly, we are greatly thankful to our sponsors--Fredrich Ebert Stiftung, DFID, UNFPA, PEMRA, and ZTB, for their generous funding and support.

9. Finally, I thank you all once again for responding positively to our invitation to the 19th Annual General Meeting and Conference. Any comments and suggestions from your side to improve the functioning of the conference are most welcome. We shall try to implement your suggestion to the maximum possible extent. Thank you.

Naushin Mahmood

Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, Islamabad.