International and domestic industry's concerns discussed

The high-ranking officers of the Punjab government met with representatives of both international and domestic industry to discuss their various concerns, especially to check the violation of intellectual property rights (IPR) and to institutionalise a mechanism to promote genuine products in the market.
The high level meeting was held under the chairmanship of Deputy Speaker Punjab Assembly Rana Mashood Ahmad, with the help of Punjab Board of Investment & Trade (PBIT). The meeting was attended by secretaries of Home, Industry, Commerce & Investment, Food Departments, Inspector General Police Punjab and senior management of Unilever Pakistan, ICI, Pakistan Cables, Coca Cola, Pakistan Tobacco Company, Oxford University Press, Gul Ahmad Fabrics and other companies.
Industry outlined their issues regarding intellectual Property Rights and said that if Pakistan is put on the IPR violators list, up to 30 percent of Pakistan's exports could be affected and just from the soft drink industry taxes of greater than Rs 1,000 million is lost every year.
The chair, while speaking to industrialists concerns, pointed out that violation of intellectual property rights is discouraging the investors, besides decreasing the tax revenue collection. Representatives of the Health Department informed the gathering that any amendment in the pure food rules would be made after consulting all the concerned stakeholders.
Rana Mashood Ahmad further clarified that the industry was free to provide suggestions and recommendations but the government of Punjab retained the rights to use its discretion to decide what recommendations to accept in its best judgement. Representatives of the industry also observed that immediate establishment of Food Quality Control Authority is must to check the manufacturing of spurious, fake and substandard items.
Rana Mashood said that in order to check the sale of sub-standards items, industrial police liaison committees would be made active, moreover capacity building workshops and seminars for the related checking staff would also be arranged to identify fake and pirated items. He further said that the spurious medicines, sub-standards food items and fake goods can pose threat to the human health and loss of both property and life.