Prime Minister Imran Khan on Thursday asked the federal ministers to keep the national interest foremost and work on ‘out of the box solutions’ to deliver the most.

He was addressing an awards ceremony for the top 10 performing ministries and divisions on good performance and achieving the set targets.

In order of their performances, the 10 ministries which have received certificates are: Ministry of Communications, Ministry of Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Division, Ministry of Federal Education and Professional Training, Ministry of Human Rights, Ministry of Industries and Production, National Security Division, Ministry of Commerce, Ministry of Interior, and Ministry of National Food Security and Research.

In line with the premier’s vision of good governance, the performance agreements were earlier signed between the Prime Minister’s Office and the federal ministries and divisions to achieve their respective targets.

"No system can effectively function without the concept of reward and punishment," the prime minister said. He shared a memory from his school days when he received the lowest marks in the class and how conscious he became of his grades when they were announced in public.

He said resolving public issues through effective policy-making and good governance was important, saying “this is a great opportunity to encourage ministries to improve their performance for the benefit of people,” he added.

"Governance system means ensuring the progress of common man. Our governance system will get better in the remaining tenure of the Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf government when the performance of all ministries will be appreciated openly in front of all federal ministers," the prime minister said.

The premier identified increasing exports, finding import substitution and poverty alleviation significant areas for national interest. He asked Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Establishment Mohammad Shehzad Arbab to assess qualitative performance of the ministries by assigning weightage to ministries that kept the country's interest ahead.

He also spoke about the inaction of bureaucracy due to fear of the National Accountability Bureau. The prime minister said reforms had been made regarding the powers of the NAB that allowed the bureaucrats to take initiatives.

He also talked about his "revolutionary ideas to bring sudden change" in the country when he assumed the charge of prime minister’s office. However, he realized the country’s system did not have the capability to sustain sudden changes and that it would be only possible through the system of reward and punishment.

Emphasising the importance of the reward and punishment, the premier said quarterly review of the performance of ministries was a step to develop among them a sense of competition to give their best.

He congratulated Communication Minister Murad Saeed for achieving the top position and said that the youngest cabinet member had delivered well regarding his ministry.

The premier noted at least 1,090 targets had been set by the ministries of which 424 would be completed this year. The 207 targets were related to governance and 100 to infrastructure, he added.