June 19, 2007	Tuesday	Jamadi-us-Sani 03, 1428

ISLAMABAD, June 18: Pakistan will unveil Trade Policy for the year 2007-08 on July 17 envisaging a range of measures for diversification of the export base, says Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan.

The new policy will focus on increasing exports from five new sectors - gems and jewellery, furniture, marble, granite, horticulture and surgical equipment besides a range of facilitation measures for exporters.

Talking to Dawn the minister said that thrust of the policy would be to seek preferential market access for Pakistani products as per the on -going policy of getting preferential market access under free trade agreements (FTAs) and preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with various states.

Other features of the policy would include focusing on improving the skills of the workers and improving the supply chains of various commodities and to announce some sectors specific initiatives as well.

Ironically, the trade policy is announced after the budget, which has already allocated money for various sectors, including trade promotion. This means that annual announcement of trade policy has just become a ritual as the initiatives announced in the policy could not get fair share in the PSDP.

According to trade analysts the policy should be framed much ahead of the budget so that to get fair allocation for various initiatives for increasing the export in the budget documents.

A senior official in the commerce ministry told Dawn that the ministry would formally start interaction with all stakeholders from Tuesday. “We have already received proposals from various quarters for inclusion in the trade policy,” he added.

The official said this interaction with the trading community will be followed by discussing the proposals at the inter-ministerial level.

When asked about the export target, the official said it was too early to talk about the target. However, this will be the second consecutive year that the export target will not be achieved.

Analysts said that the commerce ministry needed to discuss in advance the salient features of the trade policy with the four provinces. The ministry should seek proposals from the provinces and incorporate these in the trade policy.

It is a normal practice that a weak ahead of the trade policy, the chief ministers of the four provinces call on the commerce minister and discuss with him some proposals for consideration in the trade policy.

The statistics showed that for achieving the export target of $18.6 billion, the export proceeds during the month of June, 2007 should be in the vicinity of $3.119 billion. During the July-May the export proceeds stood at $15.481 billion as against $14.941 billion over the same period last year.

The import bill will reach around $30 billion by end June 2007. The import bill during the July-May period stood at $27.743 billion as against $25.594 billion over the same period of last year.