HYDERABAD: President of Hyderabad Chamber of Small Traders and Small Industry Muhammad Farooq Shaikhani while congratulating the Federal Minister for Industry and Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar said that the initiation of the policy of business to business border trade was a positive step in the economy of Pakistan.
This trade will not only facilitate the traders to send Pakistani goods to the markets of Iran, Afghanistan and Russia, but all the products which have been banned by the government due to shortage of dollars can now be easily imported from these three countries.
He said that from May 2022, the government had imposed a ban on the import on bulk of goods under SROs and due to this, the goods of the traders were not being released from the port due to non-opening of LCs by the State Bank, in the result, they were paying fines in terms of detention and demurrage on departure basis. But now with the facility of business-to-business border trade, the business community can continue their business by trading goods for goods.
He said that for the first time in history, trade is being conducted between Pakistan and China through the Karakoram Highway, which has reduced cost of movement and transport time to eight days, which was one month earlier by sea.
HCSTSI President said that opening of border market on the Pakistan-Iran border is good initiative of government. The establishment of the border market will bring prosperity to the area and more trade centers will be created in the future. Iranian products are available at a lower price than the products of other countries, which is happy news for Pakistani businessmen and people who are crushed by inflation.
He said that Pakistan committed to establish Single Window under Trade Facilitation Agreement in 2017. The first phase of implementation was launched in June 2022, with the aim of digitizing the cross-border trade process. PSW leverages the expertise of the private sector to implement this important reform initiative.
Apart from customs, 76 other departments are involved in various aspects of cross-border trade. PSW aims to automate all these departments under an electronic single window. There by reducing the time and cost of cross-border trade.
This plan states that it has been implemented by the state of Pakistan and has not been affected by the change of governments. Similarly, the complete economic policy of the country also needs to be formulated and implemented at the state level.
President said that it is a worldwide law that you import the products that you cannot grow or make yourself from other countries, now the government's job is to provide facilities in these imports. It provides all these facilities to the traders and the public.
In addition, increasing smuggling is currently a major threat to Pakistan's manufacturers and government tax revenue. Especially, by stopping what is happening inside the Iran border and Afghan transit, billions of rupees of tax can be saved and industries can also be promoted.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2023