The federal cabinet has granted status of industry to the Entertainment sector comprising studios, production and animation houses. Federal Caretaker Industries, Production and Special Initiatives Minister Salmaan Taseer said in a press briefing held here at the Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) on Saturday.
Federal Industries Secretary Shahab Khawaja, Smeda CEO Shahid Rashid, Jamshed Zafar, Usman Peerzada, Ms Shireen Pasha, Mekal Hussan, Noorul Hassan and a number of the stakeholders from the entertainment sector were present on this occasion.
The minister said the cabinet, on a recommendation by the industries ministry, had allowed duty-free import of the equipment to be used by entertainment industry. The ministry, in consultation with the stakeholders, would prepare a list of such equipment that would be submitted with the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to get a formal SRO released in this connection, he added.
Taseer also said the government will facilitate the entertainment sector to build necessary infrastructure, conduct focused research and expand the skill base through training and house incubation facilities, and power tariff of the entertainment sector would also be taken up separately with Nepra to reduce the cost of entertainment business.
The minister regretted that country's entertainment industry had been plagued by a number of ills, most of them chronic in nature and difficult to eradicate in short run. Given the significance of the sector both in the context of promoting much needed social tranquillity and economic well being of the people associated with it, he said the federal government stands committed to playing a facilitating role in developing the entertainment sector.
Salman Taseer said in 2006, the entertainment industry stood at an estimated $1.45 trillion with a Compound Annual Growth Rate (CAGR) of 7.3 percent to reach $1.9 trillion by 2009. He praised Smeda for conducting a series of meetings with stakeholders of the entertainment sector to prepare phased short to long-term Entertainment Industry development strategy.
It identified several growth barriers with a detailed course of actions to overcome the challenges. Several consultative sessions with the industry key stakeholders were held recently, he said, adding that the proposals emanating from the consultations were presented to the Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on January 12, 2008.
The ECC has granted approval to the first set of proposals presented by the Ministry of Industries, Production & Special Initiatives, which include declaring the entertainment sector an industry and allowing zero-rated import of the equipment to be used by this industry.
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