Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), while showing its concerns over non-functioning of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan's (TDAP) Ordinance for the last couple of years, has proposed that private sector should head the authority.
TDAP, an autonomous organisation established to promote exports, is being run without a Board and had lacked renewed ordinance despite a prolonged passage of time. Ordinance pertaining to TDAP, which was re-promulgated by the president on 29th November 2009 and subsequently introduced in the form of a bill in the National Assembly, is yet to be approved by the assembly and highlights the nonchalance displayed by the government on the pressing need to promote national exports.
The heads of FPCCI, who had proposed some changes in the ordinance while giving more administrative shares to the private sector/trade bodies, have criticised the Standing Committee of National Assembly, which is looking into the matter, for its negligence. According to them, the authority should also be headed by a nominee of trade bodies besides giving 60 percent membership of TDAP board the trade bodies.
The members of FPCCI, during a press conference on Thursday also criticised TDAP that the authority, instead of focusing on its mandated job, was giving retail services in international fairs. The display, sale, and promotion of products in exhibitions were the job exhibitors/ businessmen/exporters. They were also concerned that the Export development Fund (EDF) was being independently used without allocating/distributing it into different sectors. "Under the control of bureaucracy, EDF can hardly benefit the country's exports," they added.
It is worth mentioning here that TDAP Board of Directors, which is the highest decision-making body in the authority, with the power to supervise, control, direct and regulate the affairs of the authority, was not reconstituted over the past few years since completion of its tenure in 2009. The void left by the departure of the board members is affecting the official body's performance and management of daily affairs severely.
TDAP was earlier supervised by a 25-member board including 15 ex-official members while 10 are drawn from the private sector. The Minister for Commerce was the chairman of the board and the chief executive, TDAP was its vice chairman.
Speaking on the present form of the authority, sources said the main impediment in the absence of both the board and ordinance was disinterest on the part of the Ministry of Commerce which is apparently unhappy with the formation of TDAP rather than the former Export Promotion Bureau (EPB).
According to sources, the government body was constituted by a friend of the former dictator Pervez Musharraf who vested TDAP with extensive powers, in a bid to allow it to perform its function of planning and executing proactive strategies. With the additional autonomy/ and powers, TDAP was only functional during the dictator's rule and as soon as political change occurred in the country, the authority was left bereft of the required board and other rules.
The Ministry which apparently desired to hold more powers in its own grasp was keen to amend the ordinance of TDAP in a move to clip the wings of the authority and curtail its powers, while the management of TDAP was resisting the move. Though various meeting of the standing committee have been held, but no decision was made by the body so far thus keeping the authority running under the existing state.