President Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) Zahid Latif Malik has stressed the need of setting up "Support industry" to facilitate industrial sector of the country. No work had been done to invest in Support industry to complement the existing manufacturing set up of the country he pointed out.
Zahid said that in order to cope with future challenges of industrial sector, government should encourage the businessmen and investors to invest in Support industry which would ultimately lead to import substitution of especially raw material utilized by local industry.
Talking to a group of journalists on Sunday he said that export sector of the country heavily relies on import of raw materials especially from China for further value addition and re-exports adding that this practice adds to the cost of doing business and is major contributor towards increasing import bill of Pakistan.
In this regard it is suggested that investors both local and foreign, should be encouraged to invest in support industry like accessories of textile and clothing, printing and packaging, etching and polishing chemicals used in surgical instruments. The SCCI President urged upon the government to provide interest free loan 10 percent of total export for the import of new technology to the business community to upgrade its industrial units.
He said the same policy should be applied in Special Economic Zones (SEZs) being established by the government in line with China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) initiative with concept to promote import substitution. He said that Sialkot is significant contender where SEZ can be established by considering the strong industrial base of the city adding that Sialkot is the only export-oriented city in the country where 99 percent of the manufactured exported to international markets and earning US 2 billion dollars.
Keeping in view the importance and contribution there is a need of setting up support industry in Sialkot which would reduce imports to serve as a source of raw materials for export industry he added. The SCCI President further added that establishment of SEZ in Sialkot is direly needed and Chinese investors should be encouraged to bring their investment adding that timely action in this regard would prove revolutionary if implemented in all industrial hubs of the country including Sialkot.
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