ISLAMABAD, April 28: Federal Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said on Wednesday that the government will announce a string of measures in the trade policy of 2004-05 to increase exports.
Speaking at the 55th meeting of Advisory Council of the ministry of commerce the minister said that the purpose of the meeting was to have stakeholders input. "We are here to feel the pulse to enable us to formulate a more workable trade policy for the next year," he added.
The meeting was attended by the representatives of the ministries of industry, agriculture and finance, chairman export promotion bureau (EPB) and all chambers of commerce and industries.
The representatives of the chambers, services sector, industrial sector, manufacturing sector, business associations, exporters, importers and producers also gave their proposals for the formulation of Trade Policy 2004-05.
The minister said that in the last year's trade policy, his ministry took a number of initiatives aimed at improving the productivity of exporters, making their products more cost effective and enhancing the role of the government as a facilitator.
Mr Khan said that the ministry of commerce was envisaging medium to long-term vision for the upcoming trade policy. "We are exploring where our competitive edge lies so that we may be able to enhance our exports to the maximum level," said the minister.
Talking about the restructuring of the EPB, the minister said that it would be made a service-oriented organization in the real sense of the term. He assured all the stakeholders that Pakistan would do well in the post-quota regime.
However, Mr Khan said, "our industrialists and manufacturers would have to address seriously the issues of quality and standards, sanitary and phyto-sanitary conditions and social compliance because in the post-quota regime these issues would be used as non-tariff barriers."
The stakeholders put forward their recommendations as well as problems faced by them in various areas like customs duties, sales tax, excise duties, etc.
