ISLAMABAD, May 28: The government is expected to convert the Engineering Development Board (EDB) into an authority through a presidential ordinance in the later part of next month, an official said on Monday.
The draft ordinance has already been submitted to the law ministry for vetting and its subsequent issuance by the president to upgrade the EDB into the Engineering Development Authority of Pakistan (EDAP).
Chief Executive Officer of EDB Abdul Hafeez Chaudhry said in a statement that the ordinance is expected to be enforced by the beginning of next financial year.
He stated this while talking to a two-member mission of Dutch Centre for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) here on Monday.
However, he clarified that it will not affect the nature of the body and it will continue to play the role of facilitator to the engineering industry rather than a regulatory authority. He also briefed the mission in details about priorities of the government in development of industry and highlighted the philosophy and background of establishment of various sectoral companies for developing these sectors.
He said that the basic idea was to encourage the concept of public-private partnership.
He added that CBI can help in enhancing the export capabilities of engineering industry under their prescribed programmes.
To a query about the role of EDB in policy-making, he mentioned the current exercise of tariff rationalisation being carried out by the Board and informed that 17 sectoral committees were constituted in order to interact with various sectors and sub-sectors of the industry.
On the basis of their recommendations, a tariff package has been sent to CBR for incorporation in the forthcoming budget. He added that majority of the recommendations will be accepted by the CBR keeping in view the past experiences.
Leader of CBI Mission Vincent Rouwmaat said the main objective of their visit is to assess training needs of the EDB and the industry with regards to Export Marketing to EU.
He added that the CBI was also interested to improve their operational relationship with the Board. The mission member showed keen interest in the sector/sub-sector studies carried out by EDB.
