ISLAMABAD Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani directed the economic team in a pre-budget meeting that the next national budget should be a pro-poor and relief-oriented in line with the commitment of the Government. He expressed satisfaction over achievement of macro-economic stability in the country during the last two years. Welcoming the participants of the meeting at the PM House on Friday morning, the Prime Minister said, The budget making for the next year has become even more challenging after 7th NFC Award, therefore, the committee needs to review the status of revenue collection, debt profile and commitments with the IMF under the stabilisation programme. He termed the 7th NFC Award as a historic achievement and said the Federal Government had transferred about 10 percent of divisible pool resources to the provinces. The Prime Minister also guided the committee that the next budget should be growth oriented and supportive of business, industry and agriculture. He asked the Ministry of Finance to work on a macro-economic paradigm where Pakistan could sustain a reasonable level of economic growth consistently. This is necessary to actualise our growth potential, eliminate poverty and achieve a decent living standard worthy of a civilised nation, he added. While we work on the new paradigm, the Prime Minister said, the Finance Ministry should provide adequate resources to fund immediate relief measures for the poor and marginalized segments of the society. He made it clear to the budget committee that the poor had the first right on the national exchequer. He also asked economic team to bring down the inflation to provide relief to the common man. The Prime Minister said that the country was in the middle of the war on terrorism, therefore, the cost on security, defence, law & order and re-settlement of IDPs had substantially increased. However, he added, we must continue to ensure the necessary allocation of financial resources for this purpose. The Prime Minister said his Government inherited a serious energy crisis, which had seriously affected the economy of the country and created difficulties for the common man. He assured that the Government would overcome this challenge in the near future. He directed the Ministry of Finance to ensure the implementation of new initiatives in power and water sector, and should not delay these due to financial constraints. Earlier while briefing the meeting, the Advisor on Finance Abdul Hafeez Sheikh apprised the Prime Minister of the progress with regard to preparing budget for the next financial year i.e. 2010-2011. He specially mentioned that the objective before the economic team was to gradually move towards economic self-reliance. The Secretary Finance informed the meeting about the possible receivables and expected expenditures. Earlier, the Prime Minister while chairing a special meeting on energy sector with special reference to the power shortage in the country, asked the four Chief Ministers to come with their team of experts to formulate concrete policy to resolve the issue of energy crisis at the earliest and on permanent basis at the two-day energy conference starting from Monday. The agenda given for the Energy and Power Conference was identified as utilisation of existing capacity of power projects, diversification of gas to the power sector, resolution of issues of payments to PEPCO, resolution of circular debts, enable fuel base IPPs to increase production, better management to improve efficiency of power plants as well as transmission losses, focus on medium-term projects for expanding capacity through construction of hydel, coal and other sources of energy, better load management and efforts for energy/electricity conservation. Besides a number of Federal Ministers, the four Chief Ministers were also present in the meeting. The Prime Minister said public protests in various cities against loadshedding are becoming a daily routine and source of serious concern for the Government and appealed to the nation to show patience, as the Government was seriously working to overcome the energy shortage in minimum possible time. The new projects were commissioned, while more were on track for commissioning in coming weeks and months. He expressed confidence that the country would soon start benefiting from the fruit of the policy measures taken by the Government. The Prime Minister said political leadership had shown remarkable maturity on NFC Award and 18th Constitutional Amendment and the same kind of spirit was required to address the issues of the people. The Prime Minister soon after his return from foreign tour called the meeting on energy and power shortage and invited all the provincial chief ministers to personally attend the meeting. It was both in spirit of consultation and in wake of urgency of situation that the Prime Minister called for the meeting. Highlighting the causes of energy shortage, the Prime Minister said that one of the major reasons of present energy situation was the issue of circular debt. This has hampered the Governments persistent endeavours to eliminate the loadshedding, he added. He expressed the hope that Federal and Provincial Governments would sit together and resolve the issue once for all. The Prime Minister asked the concerned agencies to take immediate measures to ensure fuel supplies to fully utilise the power generation capacities presently lying idle. He also asked for making conservation measures more consistent to have visible impact in the situation on ground. He called for cooperation on the part of provincial governments in energy conservation by ensuring early closure of the markets and social functions in the evening by a designated time. He said that the IPPs and RPPs already cleared must be implemented as soon as possible. The Prime Minister asked the Ministry of Water and Power to fast track their efforts for the commissioning of new hydel and thermal power projects. He directed the Ministry to avoid unannounced loadshedding and follow the load management schedule to reduce the hardships of the people. Earlier while briefing the meeting, the Minister for Water and Power Raja Pervez said that the situation was likely to exist for another fortnight till enough water was available in major dams for producing more electricity. Till the time the situation improves conservative measure will have to be undertaken to minimise the difficulties of the people, he added. He also apprised the meeting that the sugar mill owners had been called for a meeting after three days to finalise details for purchasing electricity from them as per decision of the Cabinet. He further mentioned that pilot project of running tube wells on solar energy had been quite successful and if this system could be adopted in the entire rural areas, around 3000 MW of electricity could be saved. The bigger projects initiated by the government are planned on long-term basis and are economically feasible as cost per unit is much less. He further informed that the 220 MW project gifted by UAE would be shipped to Pakistan soon and would be installed in Faisalabad. He also revealed that Pakistan was ready to buy gas and electricity from Iran but it would take Iranian Government about five years to complete gas pipeline and transmission lines up to the border, with Pakistan. The meeting was attended by Federal Minster for Information, Qamar Zaman Kaira, Minister for Water and Power, Raja Pervez Ashraf, Minister for Petroleum, Syed Naveed Qamar, Advisor on Finance, Abdul Hafeez Sheikh, Punjab Chief Minister, Mian Shahbaz Sharif, Sindh Chief Minister, Syed Qaim Ali Shah, NWFP Chief Minister, Amir Haider Khan Hoti, Federal Secretaries of the concerned ministries and other senior government officials.