March 7, 2003	Friday	Muharram 3, 1424

ISLAMABAD, March 6: The multinational automobile companies would wind up their business in Pakistan if the import of reconditioned cars was allowed by the government.

Minister for industries and production Liaquat Ali Khan Jatoi told a news conference here on Thursday the government could not afford to allow import of reconditioned cars because it would weaken the manufacturing base and create job opportunities for vendor industry in Japan and UK instead of Pakistan.

He said that the government had asked all the car manufacturers including Suzuki, Indus Motors, Raja Motors, Dewan and Honda Atlas to reduce the prices and to share the profit with consumers and employees.

He said he had the justification to demand this because manufacturers had gone to double shifts for additional production and obviously this resulted into enhanced profit.

He challenged a statement by the chairman, Pakistan Automotive Manufacturers Association (PAMA) Kanwar Idris that industries ministry had not taken up the price reduction issue at the PAMA level.

He distributed the minutes of a meeting with all the car manufacturers held in Islamabad on December 19 to prove that they were asked to reduce prices. He

said all the car manufacturers had participated in the meeting but deplored that Kanwar Idris did not attend that specific meeting and subsequently other meetings in Karachi.

The minutes stated: The secretary industries said “that profit making is fine but profiteering should be discouraged. The industry should consider decreasing profits per unit and make profits on enhanced volumes.”

The minutes further said: “The minister asked the car manufacturers to take some measures to bring down the prices of their products in view of increased volumes. The manufacturers were asked to take up the matter with their respective boards of management. The manufacturers agreed to take this proposal to their respective board of directors.”

According to the minutes the minister assured the car manufacturers that second-hand vehicles will not be allowed to be imported in the country.

“He asked the car manufacturers to encourage genuine buyers and discourage all those exploiting consumers’ interest. Automobile manufacturers are

liable to pay interest if delivery is made after 60 days of booking. The interest rate would be paid in accordance with the rates specified by the State Bank of Pakistan,” he read out the minutes and said that the rates was subsequently fixed at 6 per cent. The meeting was attended by heads of Pak-Suzuki, Ghandhara Nissan, Dewan Farooque, Raja Motors, Indus Motors and Honda Atlas.

The minister said the government wanted that manufacturing base to strengthen because it involved 76,000 direct employments and 250,000 in the vendor industry.

He said the backlog of 4,500 orders would be cleared by Toyota company in a period of four to five months because the company had also started double-shift production.