September 19, 2003	Friday	Rajab 21, 1424

ISLAMABAD, Sept 18: The government has constituted a task force of 22 parliamentarians to seek information on the progress in the on going negotiations between WTO member countries, study its implications for Pakistan and make strategies to safeguard the interests of local stakeholders.

The task force was announced through a notification issued by commerce ministry here on Thursday.

The task force would ask for reports from the ministries, departments on any WTO related matter and also review relevant government policies and make recommendations to introduce changes to complement the opportunities available in the WTO regime for Pakistan’s agriculture, non-agricultural and services sectors.

The Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar has been appointed chairman of the task force. The members of the task force are: senators Justice (Retd) Abdul Razaque Thahim, Syed Dilawar Abbas, Asfandyar Wali, Dr Nighat Agha; MNAs Syed Naveed Qamar, Dr Farooq Sattar, Sardar Saleem Jan Mazari, Mushtaq Ali Cheema, Liaquat Baluch, Ch. Imranullah, Muhammad Pervaiz Malik, Sardar Jaffar Khan Leghari, Ishaq Khan Khakwani, Malik Zaheer Abbas Khokhar, Jehangir Khan Tareen, Alsyed Abdul Qadir Jamaluddin Al- Gillani, Omar Ayub Khan, Sher Akbar Khan, Ms. Hina Rabbani, Dr. Donya Aziz and Ch. Haroon Qaiser.

According to the notification, the secretariat of the task force would be based in the ministry of commerce.

The meetings of the task force would be held periodically and convened by the commerce minister, added the notification.