Raheela Tajwar Director General Trade Policy, Ministry of Commerce has mentioned that government has been regularly formulating trade policy every year till 2009. However, on the recommendations of business community three year trade policy was introduced and this is a third policy in a row.
She said that government is fully aware of the importance of the private sector and hence it was involved in policy making and in this connection SME sector is encouraged to diversify its products line. She was addressing a seminar, which was jointly arranged by Ministry of Commerce (MoC) in collaboration with the USAID arranged a seminar at Faisalabad to provide the private sector and other stakeholders awareness on the initiatives provided in the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2015-2018 for its optimum use by the private sector.
The activity was aimed at educating private sector about procedural requirements, eligibility criteria and other formalities to avail incentives provided in the STPF 2015-18 for private sector. In order to realise the targets set by STPF 2015-18, there was a need to approach the private sector and educate them on the provisions of STPF and how can they benefit from the incentives provided in the policy, she added. To that end, Mrs. Raheela Tajwar said that the MoC has translated the STPF 2015-18 and the enforced SROs in Urdu with the assistance of USAID funded Pakistan Regional Economic Integration Activity (PREIA) and has started dissemination of recently approved STPF 2015-18.
Syed Zia Alamdar Hussain Senior Vice President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FCCI) pointed out that despite of positive macroeconomic indicators, decline in exports due to the high cost of doing business is a matter of concern for the policy makers and Pakistan has to revisit its economic policies in addition to exploring non-traditional markets and diversifying its exports. He said that the federal government has taken bold and comprehensive decisions to strengthen Pak economy on sustained basis. He appreciated the zero rating of exports, provision of uninterrupted energy, availability of capital at reasonable mark-up and said that although the economy has now been put on right track but it will take some time to fully recover for the setbacks and crisis of the last many years. He said that government has fixed export target of 25.5 billion dollar in Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF-2015-18) but after Brexit the GSP-Plus has further complicated the existing challenges to our exports. He further said that currently Pakistan is exporting its products to only 50 countries out of 196 and hence we must expand the scope of our exports to maximum new destinations.
He said that our major issue has been identified as high cost of doing business and we must take immediate remedial steps to make our products competitive in the regional as well as in the international markets. He also pointed out that the industrial sector of Punjab was in vulnerable condition as it has to face competition with other provinces in addition to the other countries. "It is eroding our inherent export edge particularly in textile sector", he said and added that our economic policies should be centric, focused and result oriented with a proper system of monitoring and regular evaluation on long term basis.
He said that value added sector of Pakistan has potential to immediately double its exports without any major investment but for this purpose level playing field is imperative. Commenting on the China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), he said that 60 percent of international trade is between regional blocks whereas the total trade volume between SAARC countries is hardly 5 percent. He said that CPEC and construction of other infrastructure projects will ensure reliable connectivity between the regional countries and we must make conscious efforts right now to avail from the emerging opportunities. He also demanded that Faisalabad should be declared CPEC economic zone in order to gear up the industrial activities. "It will serve as Schenzon Economic Zone of China", he added. Zia also proposed necessary policy decisions for the immediate revival of sick units. He said that no new investment is required for this purpose as these units have potential to provide jobs to more than two lac workers in addition to making exports worth 1.5 billion dollars. He appreciated the holding on awareness session in Faisalabad on STPF-2015-18 and said that the recommendations made by the business community if incorporated in the policy will help government to surpass its export targets in addition to generating more jobs for the Pakistani youth.
About USAID, he said that we are thankful to US government for helping Pakistan to develop expeditiously but he suggested that US government should also provide duty free access to Pakistani products like European Union. He also appreciated the subsidy provided by the USAID in the shape of energy efficient tube well pumps and said that there are about one million agriculture tube wells in Pakistan. "Government provide them 50 percent subsidy on electricity but the line losses in these areas are about 60 percent", he disclosed and said that conversion of these agricultural tube wells on solar power it will not only ensure free and ample electricity to the farmers but it will also play an instrumental role in checking power pilferage.
Representatives from public sector, associations, private sectors, representative from academia, S.M. Abid from University of Agriculture, Faisalabad and Zafar Javed, Dean, National Textile University also participated. While emphasising on research and development, the academia expressed that there is a strong need of collaboration between academia and private sector. Representatives from various associations appreciated the efforts of TDAP Faisalabad and USAID for creating awareness about the different initiatives of STPF. Member Punjab Assembly (MPA) and Chairman of Women Standing Committee, Ms. Fareeha Fatima also commended the efforts of the federal government and USAID on conducting such awareness seminar.
It is expected that the seminar will encourage private sector to benefit from the congenial regulatory regime and result in enhanced public private partnership for trade policy formulation, implementation, monitoring and evaluation. Mohammad Owais Khan Regional Trade and Policy Advisor USAID welcomed the participants and said that USAID has launched Pakistan Regional Economic Integration Activity with a funding of 14.4 million dollars. PREIA's focus is on trade promotion and facilitation which will include collaboration with the public and private sector stake holders in Pakistan to improve trade and transit competitiveness.
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