May 12, 2006	Friday	Rabi-us-Sani 13, 1427

ISLAMABAD, May 11: Pakistan has proposed the establishment of reconstruction opportunity zones (ROZs) in 20 districts, including the quake-hit areas of NWFP and Azad Kashmir, for export of duty free products to the United States.

Officials told Dawn on Thursday that the ministry of commerce had already submitted the list of districts prone to religious extremism for the establishment of zones to the US trade department. The ministry had also worked out details about the rules of origin, customs clearance and other logistic needs to be required for the zones, added the officials.

They said the issue was also raised in a recent meeting of the US under-secretary for commerce Frank Lavin with the commerce minister and prime minister for early approval of the US Congress for the establishment of these zones.

According to the proposal of the commerce ministry, a copy of which was available with Dawn, it was pointed out that poor economic conditions in these districts were undermining government efforts in fight terrorism.

The ministry conducted a province-wise study to locate the economically under-developed and deprived districts for the establishment of ROZs to provide employment opportunities to the people of the areas.

The districts identified for the establishment of ROZs included: Punjab: Bahawalpur, D.G. Khan, Jhang and Muzafargarh; Sindh: Badin, Jacobabad, Khairpur, Sanghar, Tharparkar and Thatta; NWFP: Bunir, D.I. Khan, Hangu, Lower Dir, Swat and Upper Dir; Balochistan: Gwadar, Kalat, Kharan, Sibi and South Waziristan.

The poor distribution of wealth during the past years deprived these and other districts of economic development, which resulted in turning these areas to a hub for extremist fanatics.

“There is a need to combat unemployment of young educated males and pay attention to reducing poverty in these districts,” the study suggested.

Although Pakistan has been a leading partner of the US in the war against terrorism, in terms of trade in goods and services Pakistan falls fairly low in the list of US trade partners. The share of exports from Pakistan to the US market remained stagnant at around 0.21 per cent during the past four years.