ISLAMABAD: Senate Standing Committee on Commerce on Thursday urged the Commerce Ministry to include a clause of commercial transactions in the existing Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) aimed at providing a mechanism to settle commercial disputes.
Presiding over a meeting of Senate Standing Committee, Senator Anusha Rahman Khan, Chairperson of the committee apprised that she had received a number of complaints from exporters against their buyers who were not making payments of millions of dollars.
She claimed the Commerce Ministry advised such exporters to hire a local lawyer in those countries to settle their disputes with the buyers of those countries. She also cited the name of Sri Lanka where a dispute exists.
She argued the Commerce Ministry and its Trade and Investment Officer (TIO) should extend assistance to exporters in the country of dispute to bring stuck money back into the country as each dollar is important for the country.
Commerce Minister, Jam Kamal and the MoC’s officials briefed the committee that FTAs and PTAs are signed between countries and commercial disputes are settled through mechanism of Joint Committees or Joint Commissions, under which joint dispute settlement bodies are established.
The MoC’s officials proposed that the cases referred to by the chairperson should be shared with them so that nature of those disputes can be found prior to moving forward.
The committee also proposed that TIO stations in different countries should also be invited through video link so that an update status of trade and investment avenues can be obtained from them.
Commerce Ministry also submitted detailed impact assessment of FTAs, the criteria for identifying items/products to be included in FTA’s, details of trade balance with countries with which Pakistan entered into FTA’s and impact assessment study of the STPF 2020-25.
Commerce Minister Jam Kamal proposed that Ambassadors and TIOs be invited at the same time as the TIOs operate under the overall leadership of Ambassador.
Chief Executive Officer, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), Zubair Motiwala said that an informal mechanism is available to settle disputes between Iran and Afghanistan through joint chambers due to issues in the establishment of bank transactions. He said, several such cases have been settled through the committee established under the umbrella of Joint Committees.
The Commerce Ministry also shared quantified performance of existing TIOs including their role in enhancing exports of Pakistan.
Sharing update on committee’s recommendation on future plan of utilization of Export Development Fund (EDF), Commerce Ministry said that EDF Secretariat has initiated a Vision/ Mission Strategy development exercise in which technical support to projects supported by ITC, UKAid, World Bank has also been sought. As per the scope of work the exercise will take around two months which will include holding workshops, focus group discussion, questionnaire-based inputs for finalizing vision and theme based approaches for developing funding streams for future projects/ activities.
On a recommendation of committee regarding stoppage of funding to Peshawar Expo Centre, Commerce Ministry stated that the decision was shared with the development wing of MoC and Pakistan Expo Centre on the matter. It was further contended that this matter was taken up by the MoC with CDWP during its meeting on June 1, 2023 wherein it was decided that the remaining essential works i.e. finishing of halls, minimum critical balance work, may be completed with funds from EDF.
It was further revealed that EDB Board is under reconstitution process. The directions of the Senate Committee shall be placed before EDF during its upcoming meeting.
The committee unanimously ratified the membership of Senator Bilal Ahmed Khan to the Board of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP).
The committee members expressed displeasure with the Ministry’s response, stating that Sections 11(h) & (i) of the State Owned Enterprises Act, 2023, disqualify parliamentarians from serving as independent directors on boards. The chairperson of the committee contended that these sections apply to independent directors, not parliamentarians.
Moreover, the Ministry officials briefed the committee on the policy of re-export of motor vehicles from Pakistan and also delivered a presentation outlining the region-specific scale of exports and prospects. They also discussed the initiatives undertaken for 18 exhibitions and events for the promotion of non-traditional products in both existing and new markets during 2023-2024.
Senator Anusha Rahman, along with other committee members, recommended that a list of participants and business leads generated from each exhibition be submitted to the committee.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2024
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