ISLAMABAD (APP) - Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Dr. Nadeem ul Haq on Wednesday stressed the need for promoting private sector to accelerate economic growth in the country. "For high growth rate, we need to promote private sector entrepreneurship along with vibrant and globally connected communities," he said while addressing the concluding session of a seminar on "Youth social and economic entrepreneurship." The seminar was organized by United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and Center for Poverty Reduction and Social Policy Development (CPRSPD) here on Wednesday afternoon. US Coordinator for Economic Development to Pakistan Robin Rapheal co-chaired the session. Dr. Nadeem ul Haq expressed the need for planning to actively promote youth development. Citing an example, he said, "Poor quality of education in public schools has resulted in parallel education systems, which are completely disconnected from each other producing two different sets of individuals: the so-called liberal elites on one hand and the conservative masses on the other who seemingly live on different planets." Dr. Nadeem ul Haq said that the education and skill training systems are producing individuals for elementary skill job market. He added that those who are considered trained have mostly acquired basic or intermediary skills, which are either least in demand or outmoded. "Even some donor driven skill acquisition programs are focusing on producing more plumbers and electricians, but least we know about where and how this low skilled labor force will be absorbed? Dubai has had its own bust, which was a famous destination for these least skilled workers', he remarked. The Centre for Poverty Reduction and Social Policy Development (CPRSPD) held a Roundtable on "Youth Development and Economic Growth" on January 25 at the Planning Commission. Dr. Nadeem ul-Haque, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission and Mr. Rauf Engin Soysal, UN Special Envoy of Pakistan Chaired and Co-Chaired the event respectively. The Roundtable revolved around four sub-themes: Youth Education and Skill development, Communities and Social Networks, Social and Economic Entrepreneurship and Urban Development and Benefits of Geo-Spatial Agglomeration. Additional Secretary, Planning Commission, Ahmad Owais Pirzada opened the conference with his remarks on the importance of reaching out to youth and youth activists and its significance to the policy makers. The roundtable brought together prominent leaders working for youth development, young entrepreneurs and a handful of donors from across the country to promote youth development in Pakistan with active involvement of both private and the public sector. The first session focused on the importance of youth entrepreneurship culture in the education system in order to shape leaders for tomorrow. The session was co-chaired by Seema Aziz, the Chairperson of Care Foundation and amongst the key note speakers included Faisal Mushtaq from Roots School System and Dr. Zubair Sheikh from FAST presented their views in this session. Many respected members of the community presented their views on the second sub-theme, including Abrar-ul-Haq, initiator of the Youth Parliament Pakistan (YPP), Sabeeha Shaheen from Bargad and Sumbal Naveed from Right to Play under the shadow of the Session Co-chair, David Martin, the Country Director of British Council, Pakistan. Abrar-ul-Haq emphasized on the importance of the vision of youth and looked forward to a better future. The US Coordinator for Economic Development to Pakistan, Ms. Robin Raphael stressed upon the importance of Entrepreneurship and said, "the seed is there, it just needs to be enabled. The government should get rid of barriers/ road blocks, and encourage people with energy, patriotism to let the country grow." In addition, Captain Farrokh, Chairman of MIT-EFP, Ali Raza Khan of YES Network Pakistan, Ali Salman from Development Pool, Raheel Waqar, a young entrepreneur and CEO of White Rice Communications highlighted the opportunities of entrepreneurship and the benefits offered to all segments of the society through growth and employment. The last session, Co- Chaired by Timo Pakkala, UNDP Resident Representative/ Resident Coordinator Roundtable was concluded by discussing the benefits of urbanization and redesigning and rezoning to increase the commercial activity and promoting youth friendly zoning schemes. The key discussants in this session included Dr. Nasir Javed, Head of Urban Planning University of Punjab, Dr. Nuzhat Ahmed from AERC and Dr. Noman Ahmed, Professor and Chairman of Architecture and Planning. Overall, the conference was a huge success and many important topics were raised. The caliber of presenters at the conference was remarkable and many new ideas were mentioned regarding the underlying youth issues with more than 150 participants.