LAHORE, April 13: Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood on Saturday said some 22 existing SROs would go by the end of the current fiscal year on June 30.

“We want to clean the deck in a phased programme by finishing all SROs by December 31, 2003,” he told a gathering of businessmen. He said no firm-specific SRO had been issued in the last two years or so to allow level playing field to all local and foreign investors and businessmen in the country. No-one could now had advantage over others due to discouragement of the SRO culture by the government.

The minister, who urged businessmen to enhance productivity as the WTO regime was fast approaching, said a substantial part of the economy — the textile, leather, rice and wheat sectors — had already been corrected by introducing open market mechanism. He was of the view that these sectors had become internationally competitive. He also underlined the need for improving quality of the products to the levels prescribed in the ISO standards to compete in the world market.

Dawood said the government was in the direction of completely removing import duties on raw materials through customs tariff rationalization. He said several raw materials like finished leather, raw cotton, some basic chemicals, etc., had already been imported duty free into the country. He said for the time being the customs duty on bulk of raw materials would remain in the range of five per cent. He said the government had received from the businessmen some 877 proposals and requests for corrections in the tariff regime of the country.

He was of the opinion that the trading community should import raw materials. It would help them negotiate lower price and also save the industry from the hassle of importing raw materials for themselves.

He said the government was doing away with the registration of importers and exporters.

The minister said the government was willing to have free trade with Sri Lanka and Bangladesh was prepared to allow them more concessions than they would give to Pakistan’s exports. He said the agreement with Sri Lanka was being delayed because of the delay on their part. “We are ready to meet them and finalize the agreement on a 12-hour notice,” he said. He said both the SAARC nations could prove a big market for the Pakistani products, urging the businessmen to visit them and explore the business opportunities.

He categorically stated that the government would not allow import of reconditioned cars, hoping that the local assemblers would increase their production to meet the increased demand in three to four months.

He said he was against import of used and old autoparts and other stuff into the country because he hated to see Pakistan as a “junk country”. He, however, said the industrialists could import good, used plants to improve technology and production.