President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Majid Raza Bhutta has urged upon the government to take drastic steps for setting up of sector specific Export Promotion Councils (EPC) in the country. The proposed councils should be established for all the export sectors to enhance their exports and these councils should work under Commerce Ministry for the betterment of export industry he added.
Talking to journalists here last night, the SCCI President said that keeping in view fast changing business trends globally a new concept of Shared Showrooms has been introduced in various countries. He suggested that shared showrooms and display centres in potential markets should also be set up for providing opportunities to exporters to showcase their products with proper marketing facilities.
The shared showrooms offer solution to the issue of high cost of maintaining an individual showroom in a foreign country and difficult to administer, he said. Majid said that Shared Showrooms is the cheapest way to have samples available for demonstration and display in another country with the facility of trained staff to market the products to the buyers visiting the facility. He was of the opinion that such marketing strategy will offer an opportunity for Pakistani businessmen to stay a step ahead of its competitors and take the Made in Pakistan brands to another level and ensure export boost. The SCCI he said can offer significant help to the concerned high ups in identifying such shared showrooms.
For the development of export sector and to turn around the declining trend of export it is imperative for the government to devise a sound sector specific strategy and a vision with defined objectives, he said. In order to achieve positive results it is important that high priority sectors and potential sectors should also be identified depending on level of production and supply, potential contribution to exports, demand in international market and capacity to contribute towards the economic development of the country, he pointed out.
The SCCI President further added that government should provide special incentives to encourage the export of high priority sectors like textile and clothing, surgical and dental instruments, leather products, sports goods, footwear, gems and jewellery and furniture. Similarly potential sectors like surgical implants, composite products, light engineering products, printing and packing, sports wear, fitness apparel, gloves and musical instruments etc., needed special focus and facilities to perform optimally, he added.
Emphasising the need of setting up 'Marketing Intelligence Cell' at Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) for providing assistance to the manufacturers and exporters in obtaining information pertaining to international demands for commodities, competitive price index, expanding markets and other essential trends.
The cell would also serve to disseminate updated information to the exporters on export markets and technology to facilitate diversification of exports, Majid added.
Majid proposed that government should provide interest free loan on 10 percent of the total exports for the import of new technology and enabling exporters to upgrade their industrial units for enhancing production inefficiencies.
The SCCI President further stated that exporter community was making strenuous efforts for enhancing the export volume despite certain problems confronted by the business community adding that government should take immediate steps for resolving the problems on top priority basis.
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