The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), the only export promotion body, is without a Board of Directors for one year. The members of the Board, which is the supreme decision-making body of the TDAP, having the power to supervise, control, direct and regulate the affairs of the authority, completed their tenure in 2009. The government has yet to reconstitute the board.
In the absence of the board, the affairs of the authority have been badly affected as all the matters needing the approval from the board are still awaiting approval. Interestingly, the 28-member board had met only once in 2006 since its formation. In the last over four years the board could only hold one meeting.
TDAP''s Chief Executive is solely handling the issues pertaining to the affairs of the authority in the absence of a board. Many consultants and contractual employees of the TDAP are still doing their jobs although their contracts had expired two to three years ago. A fresh group of contractual employees who recently completed their tenure were also waiting to get their contacts renewed.
According to sources, one of the reasons of dysfunctionality of the board and its failure to run the new body, was the alleged on-going tussle between the TDAP and the Ministry of Commerce over distribution of power. The ministry, sources say, was not taking the issue seriously as, despite being a part of the ministry, the authority under the present setup was quite autonomous. There was also a lack of co-ordination between the TDAP and the ministry, sources added.
High-ups in Islamabad are still undecided about the fate of the authority. However, experts suggest that TDAP board meetings could be easily convened if it is reduced to a reasonable size. The Authority''s Board of 28 members included the Minister for Commerce, Chief Executive of TDAP, the Secretaries of Ministries of Commerce, Finance, Industries Production and Special Initiatives, Textile Industry, Food and Agriculture and Livestock, Chairman FBR, Secretary BoI, Deputy Governor SBP, Chief Secretaries to the Governments of Punjab, Sindh, NWFP, Balochistan and AJK, Presidents of FPCCI and Overseas Chamber of Commerce and Industry and 10 members from private sector.
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