January 12, 2002	Saturday	Shawwal 27, 1422

KARACHI, Jan 11: Leaders of the Union of Small and Medium Enterprise (UNISAME) has urged the newly-established Pakistan Export Finance Guarantee Agency (PEFG) to ensure quick disposal of applications at minimum charges.

Exporters attending the one-day workshop, jointly organized by the PEFG and UNISAME held on Thursday at the Institute of Bankers in Pakistan, were of a view that the agency should adopt simple procedures for quick disposal of applications as little time is available with exporters to meet LC conditions.

UNISAME convener Zulfikar Thaver while emphasising upon the need of ‘no procedural delays’, said this could only be achieved by adopting simple methods for approving application.

PEFG chief executive Zaeem, while highlighting the features and purpose of support PEFG, said it was complementing and reinforcing the range of financial facilities offered traditionally by commercial banks.

He said the aim of the workshop was to highlight the working of PEFG as its primary objective was to enable exporters to successfully compete with their goods and tradable services in the world market. This covers and facilitates finance for pre-shipment and then to expand its role to arrange for post- shipment insurance and factoring, he added.

The participants, mostly belonging to small and medium sized exporters, were informed that PEFG believes in quick turn-around and personalized service that will make them even more competitive in the world market.

The agency is to provide a comprehensive range of export trade finance guarantees, focusing on small and medium sized exporters and growth sectors.