SIALKOT, Feb 9: Federal Secretary Industries and Production Dr Muhammad Akram Shaikh has said that the government is intending to formulate an effective trade tariff for the minimum period of five years.

He stated this while addressing a special meeting of local businessmen on Saturday, at Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI), after visiting various industrial units at Daska, Sambrial and Sialkot.

He was accompanied by Chairman Pakistan Export Processing Zones Col (Retd) Akbar Hussain, Collector Customs Sialkot Dry Port Raza Baqar and SCCI president Daud Ahmad Chatta.

The secretary said the new trade tariff would be formulated with the complete consultation of the business community for the early redressal of their grievances.

He said that industrial development was stagnant due to improper use of the basic economical potential in the country.

He said that Pakistan’s industrial share in the newly industrialized countries was also at standstill.

He said that President Pervez Musharraf has put the country on the right track to strengthen the economy, besides improving the industrial development.

He said exports from Sialkot could be further enhanced by providing better physical, technological and financial infrastructure to the business community, besides giving them some special incentives.

He said that the government was asking the SME Bank to bring down its interest rate to 7-8 per cent from 18 per cent, in the larger interest of the Sialkot-based small and medium sized enterprises.

Answering a question regarding the release of matching grant by the federal government to the Sialkot, the secretary said that the business community needs much matching decisions instead of matching grant by the government.

He told the meeting that the government was also actively considering a proposal to declare the entire Sialkot district as export processing zone.