Pakistan Institute for Parliamentary Services organized a one day capacity building workshop on “Technical Budget Reporting” for the young Parliamentary Reporters of the Parliamentary Reporters Association (PRA) on the directions of Honourable Speaker, National Assembly of Pakistan Raja Pervaiz Ashraf on 8th June 2022 at PIPS campus, Islamabad. The purpose of the workshop was to equip and train the young Parliamentary Reporters in technical budget reporting skills for the upcoming budget session. The event comprised three sessions including a discussion on Constitutional Provisions on Budget and the Rules of Procedure pertinent to the Budget, An Orientation to the Budget process and Technical Budget Reporting.
The Honourable Speaker, National Assembly of Pakistan and President BOGs, PIPS, Raja Pervaiz Ashraf, graced the occasion as Chief Guest. Inaugural session commenced with the recitation of the Holy Quran followed by the National Anthem. Director General PDP&C, PIPS, Ms. Samer Awais, briefed the audience on workshop objectives. The Executive Director, PIPS, Mr. Muhammad Anwar, formally welcomed the participants. Afterwards, Mr. Siddique Sajid, President PRA, in his opening remarks, thanked the Honourable Speaker of the National Assembly for his support to organize the event. In his address, he appreciated the role of Parliamentary reporters in covering Parliamentary proceedings and encouraged them to report in a neutral and objective manner. He lauded PIPS for organizing the event and hoped that similar capacity building workshops will be organized in future as well. Around fifty reporters from eminent news channels covering parliamentary proceedings attended the workshop.
The session on “Constitutional provisions on Budget and Rule of procedure” was facilitated by panel members comprising the Additional Secretary (Legislation), National Assembly Secretariat, Mr. Muhammad Mushtaq and the Executive Director PIPS, Mr. Muhammad Anwar. The panel discussion was followed by an in depth presentation on the budget process by D.G Finance Haider Abbas who cited examples of budget documents previously laid in the budget proceedings. Technical subject experts, Mr. Muabarak Zeb Khan, Senior Economic Reporter Dawn and Mr. Riaz Taheem from Neo TV facilitated the last session on technical budget reporting. Mr. Mubarak Zeb emphasized on the significance of thorough reviewing and analysis of budget documents for the workshop participants. Workshop reporters remained engaged in the lectures and actively participated in sessions. The workshop concluded with a vote of thanks from the General Secretary (PRA), Mr. Asif Basheer Chaudhary, who acknowledged and expressed gratitude to PIPS for successfully organizing the much needed workshop. In the end, Director General PDP&C, Ms. Samer Awais thanked the National Assembly Secretariat and President Parliamentary Reporters Association for playing an active part in organizing the workshop for the young reporters.