The Punjab government has asked its federal counterpart to allow cotton import from India through the Wagha border to meet the textile industry's demand.
Punjab Commerce and Investment Minister Muhammad Shafiq stated this when responded to Adil Mahmood's query in a meeting of the chairmen of zonal committees of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry here on Wednesday.
Adil pointed out that the commerce ministry had promised to issue notification for permitting cotton import through Wagha border about one and half years ago, but no action has so far been taken to this effect. The minister also said the provincial government on Wednesday also approved setting up the Expo Centre in Faisalabad, helping to boost the country's exports, particularly in the textile sector.
"We have also decided to hold investment conference in Lahore in first week of January 2008 in which vital issues confronting the country will be discussed. Apart from this, the decision for the formation of two advisory boards was also taken with experts from public and private sector, industry, and academia on board.
Punjab Labour and Manpower Minister Shahzad Azam Khan stressed the need for building country's profile, saying that under the present scenario, nobody wants to invest in Pakistan. The country is facing severe shortage of power and gas while furnace oil is also on the rise then how one can come to Pakistan for investment.
Former LCCI and FPCCI president Iftikhar Ali Malik said the private sector was getting strong in Pakistan which can be evident from the number of induction of businessmen like Tariq Hameed, Shahzada Alam Munnoo, Shahzad Azam Khan, and Mian Muhammad Shafiq in the caretaker set-up.
He said the unemployment is increasing while industrial growth is on the declining trend and deficit has also been substantially widened. Malik urged the caretaker set-up to deliver seriously as they have very less time on their disposal.
Talking about shortage of power, he stressed the need for focusing on the energy sector and said the mark-up should also be reduced to make it viable for the businessmen. He also stressed the need for giving priority to the SME and cottage industry. FPCCI Zonal Committee Chairman on IT Osama Hassan Yousaf said the Intel Corporation was willing to invest in Pakistan and urged the government to provide incentives to the IT world giants for the promotion of the IT industry in Pakistan.
He said representatives of more than 12 multinational software and hardware manufacturing companies are present in the country who are regularly monitoring the increasing sale of computer and hardware.
Zakirya Butt while criticising the provincial government, said the cost of advertisement in the media was much more than that of actual spending on provision of free books to the students. He pointed out that printing firms do not meet the paper quality and standard approved by Punjab Textbook Board during the tendering process because the contracting firms exhibited offset paper but books were printed on the recycled paper.