ISLAMABAD, June 1: Participants at a seminar pointed out lack of long-term vision in Pakistan’s trade policies and urged the commerce ministry to be extra cautious while negotiating preferential trade agreements with any country. They proposed that trade policies should envisage a long- term vision for diversification of export base and explore new markets for new products in the years ahead.

They were speaking at a seminar which was part of the ‘Trade Initiatives from Human Development Perspective project’, a joint venture of the commerce ministry and UNDP Pakistan.

Replying to various queries of the participants, the commerce secretary, who was chairing the seminar, said his ministry was ready to listen to and engage as many people as possible in the forthcoming trade policy formulation in order to take care of issues of poverty and human development and make it more business-friendly.

He said the government was making every effort to build the capacity of public servants as well as the industry.

Responding to a question, he said unfortunately the private sector had not come forward yet and very little research had been carried out by chambers of commerce and industry.

On the other hand, the chambers of commerce and industry in neighbouring countries not only used research for business promotion but also guided their governments in negotiations, he added.

A representative of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) assured the commerce secretary of the federation’s cooperation. He asked the secretary and his team to start work on the research concept as there existed a wing at the FPCCI office for this purpose, but needed to be made functional.

Responding to a question regarding Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, the commerce secretary said: “Even if Pakistan offers India MFN status, we can safeguard our industry by using various measures. Although India has offered Pakistan MFN status there is little impact on our exports.”

Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, Abrar Ahmad Khan, in his presentation, provided detailed objectives of the trade policy which included diversification of exports, trade facilitation, increased market access, reduction of cost of doing business, enhancing export competitiveness, capacity building of both public servants and especially the industry to meet the challenges of the WTO and skill development for creating new employment.

In this regard, he discussed the success of various measures adopted in last year’s trade policy.