LAHORE, Dec 22: Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said here on Sunday that electricity cost more in Pakistan than in the European countries and should be made cheaper to give some competitive edge to local manufacturers in the world market.

At a news conference in the Lahore Press Club on Sunday, the minister said that as far as utilities were concerned, the prime minister had already announced to facilitate the people. He said he would meet the Wapda chairman in the next few days and try to find a way to get the power tariff reduced for local industry.

He said issues like the markup on loans, power and water charges and outdated industrial machinery should be taken up for improving trade and industry.

The minister said people would invest in Pakistan only if conditions were improved. The prime minister had made a beginning by reducing the power tariff for domestic consumers and more of such announcements would soon be made, he said.

He said there was a strict procedure for selecting and monitoring commercial counsellors for Pakistani embassies abroad. He said he would suggest to the cabinet to assign the Pakistani ambassadors the duty of promoting country’s trade abroad.

The minister said the Musharraf government had been focusing on revenue generation for the last three years. The new government, too, must strive to increase the growth rate of country’s economy, which was a must for creating jobs for the people of Pakistan, he said.

He did not give details of the trade agreements that Pakistan was expected to sign during the visit of the Iranian president, but said foundations for better trade relations between the two countries would be laid on the occasion.

The minister said the government wanted to improve relations with the regional countries and was going to sign a free trade agreement with Sri Lanka. However, trade relations could not be developed with India without a positive response from it on Kashmir and other issues.

He said the government would not reverse the privatization process started in the country in 1990, but would promote public-private partnership.

Replying to a question about NAB, he said every country had a mechanism for accountability, which, however, should always be non-partisan. The NAB should nab people and institutions only after preparing a solid case against them, he added.

Replying to a question about the NRB-designed local government system and police reforms, he said that the people had not voted their leaders to power only for legislation in assemblies. The government was required to consult the legislators while carrying out development activities. He said the prime minister and the Punjab chief minister had already announced that each of the MNAs or MPAs would spend Rs10 million on development activities in his or her constituency. The money would not be deposited in accounts of MPs, who would only be consulted on development activities that were to be carried out using that money, he added.

Mr Akhtar said all the cases registered against politicians would be decided in the courts and denied that the government intended to close these cases. “Ms Bhutto is out of the country, Mr Zardari behind bars and I don’t see any change in the policy.”

He said he was not aware of any criminal case against MQM’s Dr Ishratul Ibad. If there were any, they would be handled by the courts, he said.

The minister said that according to an agreement, Mian Azhar was still the president of the PML-Q and Salim Saifullah did not hold the office of party’s secretary-general.

He said he would play his role during the forthcoming by-election in Lahore. The PML-Q would now strengthen its rank and file in cities where it had organizational weaknesses, he said.