March 19, 2002	Tuesday	Muharram 4, 1423

ISLAMABAD, March 18: The Engineering sector is currently saving $3.2 billion foreign exchange, which would be increased manifold with the better “Engineering Vision”.

Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood stated this while presiding over a meeting of engineering sector manufacturers and exporters here on Monday.

The minister said that good governance demands that the government should act as facilitator and let the engineering sector entrepreneurs to be in the driving seat, to implement the well-thought out engineering vision.

He said the government agencies and private sector should join hands to give boost to the sector. He said Pakistani manufacturers have achieved tremendous success in the area of tractors and motorcycles manufacturing, where cost of production has come down for the past 10 years.

He said that total engineering goods export were $270 million in which the lion’s share was of surgical instrument. This sector was providing employment to 350,000 people and was contributing 27 per cent to gross domestic product (GDP) with 3 per cent share in country exports, he added.

He said the government was well aware of the rudimentary requirements of the sector which encompassed physical infrastructure, technical upgradation, and financial structure. He said number of international agencies like JICA, JETRO, ITA have been approached to address these requirements.

The special emphasis would be laid on human resource and vendor development, market export potentials, product certification process and establishment of common facilities, he added.

Tariq Ikram, the chairman, Export Promotion Bureau (EPB), said that the government would support launching of Pakistan’s Brand and assist the engineering industry representatives to participate in the exhibitions world over.

He said that five leading players from each sub-engineering industry must come up to international ranking, whom the government would provide further support and backing, to capture the international market.

He said the Bureau was planning to establish warehouses in the United States and Africa in first phase, to facilitate exporters.

Federal Secretary Industries and Production Dr. Akram Shaikh said that his Ministry together with Ministry of Science and Technology will be interacting with the sector for ISO standard adoption to control the junk coming into the country so that our exporters become civilized and internationally competitive.

The representatives of engineering industry presented their views and recommendations to be incorporated in the Engineering Vision-2012.