This is apropos a news item titled "FPCCI protests rigorously against economic team" carried by Business Recorder yesterday.
"Ministry of Commerce rebuts the news and states that Ministry has always hel FPCCI, trade bodies and associations in high esteem and consults them during formulation of policies related to them. Ministry has always strived for inclusive and consultative decision making to ensure consideration of input from the entire industry spectrum. The same approach has been adopted in formulation of the Strategic Trade Policy (STPF), National Tariff Policy, Small and Medium Enterprise (SME) Policy, Electric Vehicle Policy and Mobile Device Manufacturing Policy.
"The FPCCI has been given representation in the board of Export Development Fund (EDF) and various export promotion councils where major export projects, product development, market access initiatives and export promotion schemes are discussed and approved. The Prime Minster holds regular meetings with the businessmen in order to take their views so that these are be incorporated in economic policies, which is unprecedented before this government.
"In the last budget, the government significantly reduced tariffs on raw material and intermediate goods to reduce the cost of production of finished goods to improve competitiveness of our export products in global market. Besides, Commerce Ministry formulated a draft National Tariff Policy, in consultation with FPCCI, for tariff rationalization which will go a long way to improve the competitiveness of export-oriented sectors including SMEs.
"Since SMEs make up the bulk of businesses in Pakistan and are necessary for broad-based and sustainable economic growth, the government is focusing on development of SMEs. In this regard, incumbent government has launched an EU-funded Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP), which would strengthen SMEs in the provinces of Sindh and Baluchistan which are associated with livestock, dairy and horticulture. To decrease the regulatory load on SMEs, the government has launched Pakistan Regulatory Modernization Initiative (PMRI) to ease out the business regulatory burden for mainstreaming SMEs in the national economy.
"It is also requested that Ministry of Commerce's version may please be included before publishing news against the Ministry".-PR
Copyright Business Recorder, 2019
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