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ISLAMABAD: A meeting of Council of Common Interests (CCI) chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan decided to establish its permanent secretariat but failed to reach consensus on releasing the 2017 census results.
The CCI’s 44th meeting attended by Chief Minister Punjab Usman Buzdar, Chief Minister Sindh Syed Murad Ali Shah, Chief Minister Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Mahmood Khan, Chief Minister Balochistan Jam Kamal Khan, federal ministers and higher authorities.
On notifying Census 2017 results, it was decided to hold a virtual meeting on Monday to take final decision on the issue. The provinces of Punjab and Khyber Pakhtunkhwa agreed to notify the census 2017 results. However, CM Sindh opposed the move and demanded to release the results only after holding a new census while CM Balochistan sought more time to give a final reply on the issue
The decided to establish its permanent secretariat as required under Article 154(3) of the Constitution. The meeting also approved NEPRA’s annual report for 2019-20 and state of industry report 2020.
They discussed the import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG) and implementation of Article 158 and 172(3) of the constitution. Itwas decided to constitute a committee comprising of minister for planning, minister for energy and special assistant to PM for power and petroleum to hold consultations with the provinces and evolve a consensus on the way forward in addressing the challenges of dwindling local gas reserves and increasing domestic gas requirements.
The CCI approved amendment in petroleum (exploration and production) policy 2012. The implementation report of the previously taken decisions of CCI was also presented before the meeting.
In order to further improve ease of doing business and harmonization of quality and standards across the country, it was decided that provinces will notify harmonized standards set by Pakistan Standard & Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) by repealing their own standards.
It was also agreed that harmonization of standards, standardized labelling and certification marks logo would remain exclusive domain of PSQCA. As directed by previous CCI meeting, the observations of the provinces were incorporated into NEPRA’s annual report 2018-19 and state of industry report 2019. The reports were presented before the meeting and approved.
It was decided that Higher Education Commission (HEC) would be the sole standard setting national organisation with regards to higher education in the country. The HEC would strengthen its regional centres for better representation and coordination with the provinces.
On the issue of distribution of Zakat funds to the provinces/federal areas in wake of 25th constitutional amendment, the meeting agreed on Zakat distribution fund formula, and decided to transfer funds for tribal areas to KP province for distribution among the deserving people of these merged districts.
