The Ministry of Commerce in co-operation with the European Union (EU), is launching a Co-operation Programme on Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA II). The Programme will provide support to Pakistan in building the necessary capacity to address trade related issues, thereby fostering its integration into the world economy and contributing to poverty alleviation.
The programme targets support for trade policy development, support to priority sectors with high export potential such as horticulture, fisheries and selected industrial products such as fans, surgical instruments, cutlery and sporting goods. It includes sector support to increase productivity and value addition as well as strengthening of intellectual property rights regime.
A National Programme Validation Workshop convened on today (Tuesday) here at the Serena Hotel. It will be opened by Zafar Mahmood, Secretary of Ministry of Commerce, and HE. Jan DE KOK, Ambassador, EU Delegation to Pakistan to deliberate on the relevance of TRTA II activities in addressing the export performance and trade related challenges of Pakistan.
The TRTA II Programme has three components: Component I, aims at building capacity within Ministry of Commerce to formulate trade policies and to proactively participate in trade negotiations by enhancing active engagement of the private sector in these processes. The ITC will implement this Component.
Component 2, aims at strengthening the quality and conformity assessment infrastructure and services with focus on selected export supply chains (fisheries, horticulture and selected industrial products) to meet international standards and compliance requirements. The UNIDO will implement this component.
Component 3, aims at strengthening the Intellectual Property Rights (IPR5) regime in Pakistan through protection of IPRs by improving the enabling environment for business, investment climate and value addition of export products. The WIPO will implement this Component. The country has a high, but not fully exploited potential of exports in particular in a number of non-traditional agro products.-PR