Ministry of Commerce clarifies the news item published in Business Recorder on 15th February 2018 with the caption "FTAs with China, Malaysia accrue little or no benefit". The caption of the story as well its contents report the impact of FTAs which was neither the subject of the event nor was it discussed during the stakeholder consultation session mentioned in the news item. A copy of the Secretary Commerce''s speech read during the event is enclosed herewith for reference.
In its clarification, the Ministry said it organized a session with the chambers, trade associations, academia and think tanks as a consultative exercise for formulation of Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2018-23. As a normal practice, a brief presentation was made on the objectives of the session which, inter alia, contained a slide on professional review of the previous STPF, its implementation status. This was the tenth in a series of such consultation sessions held across the country during the last few weeks. A positive activity of stakeholder consultation, organized in a very professional manner, was widely appreciated by the participants and the media, except for the above-mentioned news story in your esteemed newspaper.
On similar occasions in the recent past, the correspondent of your esteemed paper filed negative stories based on conjectures. For instance, his story titled "CPFTA talks get nowhere" published on 10th February misreported the proceedings of recent round of negotiations in Beijing, by quoting unnamed sources in Ministry of Commerce.
Such news items which are against the facts or based on deliberate negative presentation of positive activities not only vitiate the perception of Pakistan''s national economic environment but also affect the credibility of a highly-esteemed newspaper like Business Recorder.
Business Recorder staff reporter Mushtaq Ghumman adds: Copies of Commerce Ministry''s presentation and the speech of FPCCI Vice President are available with this correspondent besides recordings of other participants - documents that were the basis for the report filed on STPF. Additionally, the report is based on concrete material available with this correspondent who fully stands by the reports.
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