October 29, 2002	Tuesday	Sha’aban 22,1423

ISLAMABAD, Oct 28: The “Engineering Vision” has started bringing in substantial growth in the engineering industry and it has now become imperative to pursue this vigorously.

This was stated by Commerce Minister Abdul Razak Dawood while presiding over the meeting of the members of Engineering Development Board (EDB) here on Monday.

He said that organizational structure of engineering sector had been put in right place and Pakistan had emerged as one of the engineering goods exporting country.

At present Pakistan is exporting its engineering goods to a large number of countries, which has helped in improving its trade balance and reduced overall trade deficit by 17 per cent.

He said now the situation was ripe to foresee the demand of world market in this sector and “our vendors have all the capabilities to capture this market.”

He advised the vendor industry to gear up their efforts to enter $30 billion engineering industry of Malaysia and Thailand.

The minister said a number of joint ventures projects were identified during the Malaysian Prime Minister’s visit to Pakistan where Pakistan engineering industry vendors were asked to export auto parts to be assembled in Malaysia for further export to the countries of the region.

Similarly, the Sri Lankan government in Free Trade Agreement is inviting Pakistani vendors to export kits of various automobiles to be assembled in Colombo for further export to fulfil the demand of countries of the region.

Mr Razak opined that FTA with Sri Lanka which will be signed in couple of days, will include duty free export of motorcycle, CKD kits, air-conditioners, refrigerators, cycles, rickshaws, gas meters, water pumps and transformers.

He added that on some engineering goods phasing out of duty would be exercised in five years time, in the ratio of 30%, 10% and 20% of existing duties. This will provide boost to Pakistani engineering industry as Sri Lanka enjoys the position of “hub country” for Singapore and other eastern block.

The minister also advised the representatives of vendor industry to give their input on the listed items of FTA with Sri Lanka.

He said the Malaysian government had appreciated the idea of laying a “transmission line” in their country and had hoped that a delegation of contractors from Pakistan would soon visit Malaysia to undertake this project.

Referring to the role of EDB in rebuilding and rehabilitation work being undertaken in Afghanistan, Mr Razak said that out of $90 million leftover aid from Pakistan, 50% will be utilized for undertaking construction projects and remaining 50% for the provision of commodities.

He said NESPAK had been asked to establish office in Afghanistan to facilitate Pakistan engineering, construction firms and other private sector vendors.