A meeting of the Cabinet Committee on Privatization was held in Islamabad today with Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Ishaq Dar in the chair. The meeting was also attended by other members of the Committee including the Finance Minister, Minister for Commerce, Minister for Privatization, Minister for Industries and Production, Governor State Bank of Pakistan, Chairman SECP besides Federal Secretaries of various Ministries and Division. The committee recommended that priority shall be accorded to privatization of loss-making entities while the federal footprint shall be limited only to the Strategic and Essential SOEs under the Federal Government's domain. It emphasized that even the SOE making profits shall be considered for privatization. It was decided that 40 SOEs shall be placed by respective Ministries before the Cabinet Committee on State Owned Enterprises for their categorization as Strategic or Essential. The SOEs which will not be categorized as Strategic or Essential shall be included in the Privatization Programme. The committee directed the Ministry of Privatization to deliberate the rationale provided by respective Ministries for not including 18 SOEs in consultation with them and firmed up proposals regarding each shall be submitted to CCoP in its next meeting. It approved 24 entities for the Privatization Programme and directed Ministry of Privatization to deliberate the phasing of each entity in consultation with the respective Ministries. Source: Radio Pakistan