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| August 23, 2005 | Tuesday | Rajab 17, 1426 |
Political will needed to implement trade policy: expert
ISLAMABAD, Aug 22: A seminar here on Monday termed Pakistan’s trade policy ambitious and an important step towards compatibility with the WTO regime, but requiring a strong political will for effective implementation.
The seminar on “Trade Policy (2005-06), Review and Assessment” was organized by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI).
Dr Abid Sulehri of the SDPI said without effective implementation, which included inter-ministerial coordination and public-private partnership, Pakistan would not be able to get benefits from the policy.
He said the inclusion of stakeholders’ suggestions in the trade policy had come as a pleasant surprise and was an important step towards bringing compatibility with the WTO regime. However, he said, the policy ignored the development of human perspective.
Human development perspective needed to be more strengthened without which none of the policy initiatives would be able to provide any relief, he warned. He said there should be a link between trade and employment opportunities as unemployment and under-employment were the biggest problems in Pakistan.
Dr Sulehri said the policy formulation process was not very transparent, but added that the emerging trends of pre-policy consultations and inclusion of many suggestions in trade policy were healthy signs.
He said the trade policy was too export-oriented and did not take care of the interest of consumers. He said Pakistan’s political competitive advantage lied in being a strong ally of the US in the war on terrorism and its product advantage lied in export of textiles to the US and European Union. However, there was no mechanism to clearly identify the sensitive sectors and products, he said.
He suggested that the objective of the ministry of commerce should be not only to have a balance between exports and imports, but also to identify the sectors that should be opened for trade. He said the automobile sector should be opened for trade so that the small vehicles should become affordable for the middle income group. But in Pakistan, he said, the case was opposite. In the current trade policy the prices of large-size vehicles have been reduced, he added.
Dr Sulehri said Pakistan lacked the culture of consumer rights’ protection, an aspect that has been missed in the trade policy too.
He said there was no regulatory mechanism, which could ensure cheap prices and high quality for consumers.
He said there was no coordination among the ministry of commerce and other stakeholders when they made decisions. The ministry of commerce promoted the growth of organic cotton, but the ministry of agriculture and the agriculture research institutes have not been involved in the initiative. A coordinated effort would bring more positive results, he argued.
He said the objective of the trade policy revolved around a rapid export growth strategy which was a hard commitment to be fulfilled.
He said the policy was silent on the most favourite nation (MFN) status for India. He said Pakistan had started importing vegetables from India but the benefit in the form of lower prices had not been passed on to the people.
On of the participants said ambitious initiatives were announced in every trade policy, but they were seldom followed or completed.
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