ISLAMABAD: The Commerce Ministry is to informally blacklist those Sri Lankan companies that defaulted in payment to Pakistani rice exporters by disallowing allocation of rice quota.

This mechanism was shared by Commerce Ministry officials at a meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce, which met on Monday with Senator Anusha Rahman in the chair.

The Committee was informed that two Sri Lankan Companies have defaulted in payments to Pakistani rice exporters which are also not getting required support from Pakistani authorities.

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Commerce Minister, Jam Kamal Khan, said that Pakistan and Sri Lanka have very close relations - Pakistan enjoys a trade surplus with Sri Lanka - and such issues must be taken up through Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MoFA).

Chairperson Standing Committee argued that if an exporter claims that an importer has not made a due payment or filed a case in court of that country, Pakistani authorities should at least publicly list caseswhich are under litigation so that the same importer may not get an order from another Pakistani exporter.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2024