Mr. Khalil Shariff (Chief Executive Officer, Aga Khan Foundation Canada):
Thank you, Mr. Chairman and members of the committee. It’s a great privilege to have the opportunity to be here and to share the experience of the Aga Khan Development Network in the area of the private sector’s role in achieving international development objectives.
I want to begin by commending the committee for taking up this issue, because it is both important and difficult. I think you’ve already heard in previous testimony that there is now a very strong consensus around the pivotal role that economic growth plays in reducing poverty, and of course a central role that a robust private sector plays in underwriting economic growth. But you have also heard—and I think correctly—that not all economic growth is the same and it does not always translate into poverty reduction.
So your study, I think, allows us to explore the different dimensions of the issue and to figure out exactly how it is that the private sector can support growth, which in turn will support important development objectives across the entire spectrum of private sector actors: from large multinational firms to small enterprises, from commercial banks and insurance companies to microfinance institutions that reach remote villages, and from a business owner employing thousands of workers to an enterprising small farmer.
via House of Commons Committees – FAAE (41-1) – Evidence – Number 036.
Ismailimail 