President of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) Junaid Esmail Makda has said that the business community has been facing a lot of issues and barriers due to Department of Plant Protection's Quarantine department.
"The Quarantine department of the DPP continues to create problems for traders who are either exporting or importing goods," he said, expressing deep concerns over meagre number of workforce at the DPP. He was speaking at an awareness session organised at KCCI.
Makda called it a very serious issue hence he said they seek help from President Dr Arif Alvi because he, during his recent visit to Karachi, had assured to get the issue of limited workforce at DPP resolved on priority.
Sharing the experience of his recent visit to SGS Pakistan, KCCI president said that all the laboratories at SGS Pakistan were well-equipped and everything was available under one platform and it was really heartening to see that certification for the textile sector, which was the mainstream of Pakistan's exports, was also being provided by SGS Pakistan through state-of-the-art laboratories and testing facilities as per international standards.
"The SGS Pakistan has evolved into a dynamic team of specialists in the related disciplines of quality verification, supported by state-of-the-art testing laboratories and advanced technology," he said, noting that with its head office in Karachi and offices across the country, the SGS offers a broad range of services to all sectors, including agricultural, mineral, environmental, oil, gas & chemical, and industrial. He said that it helps them mitigate risks, expedite workflow and assure quality standards.
The KCCI chief said that manufacturing is invariably complex, therefore it requires tremendous attention to standards and regulations, needs compliance with quality, health and safety legislation and often, international regulations. In this regard, SGS has a comprehensive suite of services to help manufacturing processes run smoothly, he said.
Referring to SRO 237, he pointed out that it was made mandatory that the ingredients and details of the imported food products would be printed in Urdu and English languages on consumer packaging while the logo of Halal certification body would also be printed which was widely criticised by KCCI as it was technically impossible to get this new regulation implemented immediately yet the said SRO was enforced overnight, which resulted in blocking all the consignments even those which had already arrived at the ports or were in transit.
Realising the grievances faced by traders and on KCCI's request, Adviser to the PM for Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood extended its implementation for three months which KCCI warmly welcomed as it provided sufficient time period to foreign manufacturers of food stuffs to comply with recent amendments to the Import Policy Order 2016.
The SGS Pakistan Managing Director Abdul Razzak Lakhani stressed that the business and industrial community of KCCI must work collectively with SGS Pakistan to promote the standardisation of products both either being produced and imported in Pakistan or being exported to other countries which would certainly ensure sustainability and growth for the national economy.
"Developed world has focused on standardising products, processes and management system and also ensured regulatory, ethical and social compliances which must also be adopted by Pakistan as well in order to ensure sustainable economic development," he urged.
Lakhani further said that since its founding around 150 years ago, SGS Global Group has operations in 140 countries with a total workforce of 97,000 and 2,500 laboratories/ offices, giving SGS Pakistan the access to knowledge which was being mobilised to come up with the solutions that would definitely bring up the economy of Pakistan.
"We are operating in Pakistan since 1952 with around 1,000 specialists while comprehensive labs have been established in Karachi and Lahore," he said, adding they were practically working in every segment of economy, including agriculture, food, minerals, textile, leather, oil & gas, chemicals, equipment, refineries, power plants, fertiliser plants, pipelines and cement plants, etc. You name the commodity and you will find us offering services for the same," he asserted.
The SGS Pakistan's MD also spoke on activities in agriculture sector.
"We are practically involved in everything that is going out or coming in the country, including rice, wheat, sugar, seeds, pulses or any other thing being traded as we intervene as third party and enjoy confidence of international players and also the governments because of our excellent services."
Lakhani said that SGS Pakistan holds comprehensive laboratories where visual, chemical, biological, pesticide, halal, GMO and many other testing and quality assessment facilities were being provided for various commodities, including beverages, meat, processed foods and frozen foods, etc.
He said SGS Pakistan was also providing the Farm Management service to enhance productivity of farmers by monitoring soil, seeds, fertilisers and pesticides.
He also referred to SGS Pakistan's activities in the Mineral Sector, saying whatever being explored in Pakistan, including zinc ore, copper ore, iron ore, coal or any other mineral, SGS Pakistan was there with complete geochemical laboratories and field services to help exploration sector.
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