February 8, 2006	Wednesday	Muharram 9, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Feb 7: The National Assembly standing committee on Commerce (NASCC) on Monday recommended to send the draft bill for the establishment of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to the parliament for discussion.

While chairing the meeting, the NASCC chairman, MNA Iqbal Muhammad Ali Khan also recommended that after legislation, the Auditor General of Pakistan might carry out external audit of the TDAP accounts.

Talking to Dawn after a three-hour meeting on a single point agenda “disbanding of Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) by the prime minister,” the chairman said that the committee directed the EPB Chairman Tariq Ikram that the trade authority should be established through an act of parliament and not through issuance of a presidential ordinance.

The committee directed that list of the officers, who had visited abroad on official tours might be submitted in its next meeting. “The chairman EPB alone had made 75 visits to foreign countries at a cost of Rs1.5 billion during the period 2000-2005,” the chairman said.

The committee questioned about the outcome of these visits made for trade promotion at the cost of the national exchequer. The committee took strong note of the stance of the EPB that it was only accountable to the commerce ministry, he said.

He said that the chief executive officer (CEO) of the TDAP should be selected through a prescribed mechanism of test and interviews to be properly advertised in the newspapers. “It is not the right of the present chairman of EPB to take over the post of the CEO of the new institution,” the chairman asserted.

An official announcement said that the chairman EPB briefed the committee on the re-structuring of the bureau, which, he said, was not disbanded but being re-structured with the name of TDAP on modern lines. He said it would function as an autonomous body and will consist of a board to be headed by the commerce minister with 20 members—10 each from the private and the government— to regulate the functions of the new authority, he added.

Mr Khan said that the committee recommended that the number of board members should be reduced as the private members would be paid a handsome amount from the national exchequer.

The EPB chairman submitted that the regular employees from grade 1-16 would be given option to join the TDAP with handsome package, otherwise they would simply work as government servants. This means that for joining the authority, they would have to abandon the government service.

However, the chairman said the officers of grade-17 and above would be offered to join the TDAP through human resource audit, and would be imparted training.

“A quantum leap in export cannot be achieved through one organization. It can be achieved only through concerted efforts of the government,” the chairman of the committee observed.

The government has already constituted a Federal Export Promotion Board (FEPB) under the chairmanship of the prime minister. All relevant ministries were represented on the board. The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the cabinet is the second forum for an holistic policy approach. Coordinating exportable surplus is the function of the ministries of Industries, Textile and Agriculture. The TDAP will undermine the function of these ministries.

The draft law, available with Dawn, proposed that the TDAP may develop linkage with international bodies, associations and chambers. This is an attempt to undermine the powers of the cabinet, as direct linkage with international bodies, associations and chambers requires approval of the cabinet on case-to-case basis.