It is gratifying, indeed, to learn from a report that at long last the main factors hampering trade facilitation in the country were identified at a brainstorming session of the Trade Facilitation Project, held in Karachi last month.
According to its findings the most problematic areas pertain to the utilities - water and electricity - the customs organisation, bureaucratic attitudes and cumbersome procedures, the behaviour of tax authorities in regard to delayed refunds - logistics, high tariffs and inefficient operations, together with involvement of too many government agencies.
It will be noted that the identification of these glaring barriers will leave little to doubt about the private sector's oft-repeated complaints as to what has long been obstructing smooth sailing of the country's trade and industry, pointing to its grave consequences from time to time. Of course, many and varied have been the government's efforts to tackle these problems, particularly during the past few years devoted to reforms and restructuring over a widening range.
However, the overall approach in such exercises being largely ad hoc in its nature, has always left a great deal to be desired.
This then will appear to have been the major reason behind the initiation of the Trade Facilitation Project by the National Trade and Transport Facilitation Committee (NTTFC) of the Ministry of Commerce, with technical assistance from the United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) on simplification of trade procedures and documents and their standardisation.
Essentially, the whole idea behind the new scientific effort, as indicated in the news report is to provide a model for analysing the trade transactions from a comprehensive approach, which can help different industries reduce transaction time and costs, make their products more competitive, thereby contributing to the competitiveness of Pakistan's exports.
Evidently, requiring an objective analysis of all the woes of trade and industry, the job was assigned to a competent agency, which will be seen as quite in conformity with the demands of such a complicated and confused situation further compounded by the lack of will on the part of successive governments over a long past.
Given a free hand by the government to proceed with the task in an appropriate manner, as also the active and willing co-operation they received from the private sector, little wonder they managed efficiently to fulfil the assigned task, thereby coming to conclusions that should appeal to both the government and the trading community at large.
This has reference to the presentation made by the agency handling the onerous task at a meeting held last month on the project. It was marked by a brief on their analysis of "As is Scenario" and a feedback from all the stakeholders. Notably, the process of analysis is reported to have brought to the fore, among other irritants, various disputes causing concern to the traders, in respect of valuation, scrutiny of declarations, non-availability of complete documents, incorrect documentation and harassment.
The deliberations at the meeting also revealed that regulations are generally complex and control oriented, besides under-utilisation of IT facilities. All in all, the identification of the root causes hampering trade facilitation should help both the government and the business community in overcoming the impediments from a joint effort.