Islamabad: Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar today underscored the government’s commitment to advancing its Privatization Programme with transparency and a coordinated governmental approach. This announcement came during his chairmanship of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization in Islamabad.

According to Ministry of Information and Broadcasting, the committee set a priority to minimize the federal government’s role in commercial sectors, restricting its involvement to strategically and essentially state-owned enterprises (SOEs) only. It was also decided that profitable SOEs would not be exempt from consideration for privatization.

During the session, the committee approved 24 entities for inclusion in the Privatization Programme for the years 2024-2029. It was determined that the potential inclusion of additional SOEs will be evaluated after a thorough review by the Cabinet Committee on State-Owned Enterprises, which will categorize which are strategic and essential. Those not falling under these categories will be considered by the Cabinet Committee on Privatization for possible inclusion in the program.