For a nation to progress it must have a clear
idea of its longer-term aspirations. Without
this clarity it will neither be able to prepare
a coherent roadmap for action nor adopt
and implement the policies that would lead
towards the objectives. A national vision is
meant to provide clarity to our shared vision
of the future. Indeed, Pakistan was founded
on such a vision—the “Pakistani Dream”, a
vision of a prosperous, equitable, tolerant,
and dynamic society—which was at the heart
of the Independence Movement, even if, over
the years, its clarity has diminished. It was
the foundational vision for the new country,
inspired by that generation of leaders, and
articulated through the struggles of our people
for independence and nationhood. The purpose
of this document and all that has gone into its
preparation is to recreate this vision, re-build
upon it, and help translate it into reality.
Since 1947, Pakistan has made considerable
progress on many fronts. However, on the
eve of our 68th independence day, there is
consensus that the pace of progress has not been commensurate with the promise and
potential of our nation; we need to do better
and faster. There is a general misconception
that faster means no or less planning and
more action. The reality is that the quality of
planning is one of the key determinants of
the speed of action and desired outcomes.
Over time, the nature and role of planning
has undergone a major transformation.
Today the national planning process is more
participatory, collaborative, people and
market oriented. Plans succeed when they
manifest the aspirations of a nation, empower
the citizens, and especially the private sector,to play their respective roles, provide equal
equitable opportunities to all and assign a very
well defined role to government as a supporter,
facilitator, regulator and performance driven
service provider.
Pakistan Vision 2025 is designed to represent
an aspirational destination. It will serve as
a critical guide-post for the development of
an effective strategy and road-map to reach
our national goals and aspirations. It is not
meant to represent the resultant strategy and
programme itself. The Vision will be realized
through strategies and programmes defined in
associated five-year and annual plans.
Pakistan today faces formidable social,
economic, security and governance challenges.
Many nations have faced similar challenges
in history and successfully turned them
into opportunities through sound economic
planning, good governance and consistency
in policy implementation. We believe that,
once effectively addressed, our challenges
likewise offer unprecedented opportunities
for transformational progress. As we pass
through an era of unprecedented change and
complexity, it is imperative that we refresh
our framework for national development.
A renewed commitment to the founding
vision is needed, both to address the current
challenges and set out realistic and ambitious
targets for the future—including ensuring that
Pakistan succeeds in achieving the proposed
Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) of
zero poverty and hunger, universal access to
health services, education, modern energy
services, clean water and sanitation, and join
the league of Upper Middle Income countries
by 2025.
Our ultimate aspiration is to see
Pakistan among the ten largest economies of
the world by 2047 – the centennial year of our
independence.
Pakistan is currently facing serious challenges
on various fronts. These include the combination of low growth and high inflation,
which is one of the major factors leading to the
perpetuation of poverty and unemployment.
Energy shortages have posed great problems
to the citizens as well as businesses and
agriculture. Social indicators reflect serious
deficiencies in education, health and
population, gender equity and social services.
The law and order situation in the country poses a critical threat to security as well as the
economy. The decade-long struggle against
terrorism and extremism continues to impose
immense social, economic, and human costs.
The challenges are compounded by a number of
adverse exogenous developments, especially
the looming threat of climate change, the
aftermath of global economic, financial, and
energy crises, unabated fragility of the global
financial system, and the continued stagnation
in developed country import demand as well
as aid flows.
The situation calls for a consensus-based
national vision and comprehensive strategy
to not only combat these challenges, but also
proactively embrace the future based on ‘The
Pakistani Dream’, which lay at the heart of the
movement for the creation of Pakistan.
Notwithstanding the multitude of challenges,
recent developments, both internal
and external, also provide a basis for
optimism. Recent years have witnessed the
transformational impact of the deepening of
democratic culture and institutions. There is
a growing consensus that the future of the
country is linked with the upholding of the
principles of the rule of law, independence of
the judiciary and constitutionalism. The space
for freedom of expression through the growing
voice of a vibrant media has expanded. In
spite of attacks on journalists, the resolve of
Pakistan’s media has only grown stronger to
show that this phenomenon is irreversible.
There is a growing and engaged civil society
in the country, which is giving greater voice to
citizens in shaping the future direction of the
country
Having taken necessary short-term actions
to stabilize the economy, it is logical that the
focus shifts towards the medium to long term
framework that will bring Pakistan’s economy
to its full strength and potential. Pakistan
Vision 2025 should be seen as the first stage in
the development journey, providing a balanced
and solid platform of sustainable growth and
development, and enabling the achievement
of the larger vision of transforming Pakistan
into a high income economy by 2047 - the first
centenary of Independence.
Pakistan Vision 2025 was arrived at after
extensive consultations with a very wide range of
stakeholders, including representatives of political
parties, federal and provincial governments,
parliamentarians, national and international
private sector entrepreneurs, development
partners and financial institutions, academia, think
tanks, independent experts, Non-Governmental
Organizations and civil society.
A national consultative conference was held on
November 22, 2013. The conference was chaired
by the Prime Minister and attended by the Chief
Ministers of all four Provinces and the Prime
Minister of AJ&K, as well as over one thousand stakeholders from different sectors and domains.
In order to streamline discussions and obtain
coherent inputs from all sectors of the economy, the
conference was divided into seven broad thematic
groups, which were further sub-divided into fiftythree
sub-groups. The national conference was
followed up by consultative workshops in the four
provinces and AJ&K, with the objective of clarifying
recommendations and mustering support. In order
to avoid duplication and reinventing the wheel, the
best ideas put forward in earlier vision documents
and medium-term plans were also drawn upon in
preparing Vision 2025.
