Pakistan Society of Development Economists: Secretary’s Report

Honourable Mr Ghulam Ishaq Khan, President of the Islamic Republic of Pakistan, Professor Syed Nawab Haider Naqvi, President of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists, Distinguished Delegates, Guests, Ladies and Gentlemen, Assalam-o- Alaikum. It is indeed a great honour and privilege for me to welcome you all, on behalf of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE, for short), to this inaugural session of the Fifth Annual General Meeting of the Society. Such glittering gatherings of national and international scholars of Development Economics are rare in Pakistan and, therefore, most welcome and impressive. I am, therefore, most grateful to you all for your valuable participation in this meeting. The Pakistan Society of Development Economists is truly a brainchild of Professor Syed Nawab Haider Naqvi, Director of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, who is appropriately its President also. Based in the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, the society was registered on October 19, 1982 under the Societies Registration Act of 1860. The main objective of the Society was to provide a forum for effective disseminate ion of the fruits of contemporary research, both here and abroad, among academics, Government economists, researchers and policy-makers concerned with socio-economic matters and development. It also aimed at serving as a bridge of contact between scholars of the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics and those similarly engaged in government, universities and other national and international institutions. To attain these objectives, the Society organizes Annual General Meetings and, in close collaboration with the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics, holds a number of lectures in the Institute's series of "Lectures in Development Economics". Through these meetings and lectures, •the Society maintains an active contact with its members as well as with eminent national and international scholars. The Society also plans to award medals and cash prizes to scholars for outstanding research contributions in the field of Development Economics