ISLAMABAD, April 26: The ministry of commerce on Thursday started formal consultations with all stakeholders for formulation of the trade policy for the year 2007-08.

The proposals for the trade policy were discussed in the 58th meeting of the advisory council of ministry here on Thursday. The meeting was attended among others by the FPCCI president, chairman NICL, chief executive TDAP and deputy governor State Bank of Pakistan.

Secretary Commerce Syed Asif Shah said the meeting was a consultative session and the ministry would hear all the stakeholders and would give due importance to their inputs in making of the upcoming trade policy.

Chief Executive TDAP Tariq Ikram apprised the meeting of the export performance in different countries and regions of the world and presented the market analysis. He advised the stakeholders to identify the reasons for decline in exports to some regions.

President FPCCI Tanveer Sheikh said that in the ongoing era of free economy exports faced stiff competition from countries like India, China Thailand and even Bangladesh.

He highlighted some of the irritants affecting export growth, including higher cost of production, as compared with the competing countries, in terms of high utility charges, high mark-up rates, non-tariff barriers like environmental standards, social compliance, lack of modern technology and market research, inadequate transportation, shortage of skilled manpower, and insufficient training facilities.

The participants from various sectors raised specific issues being faced by them in their respective sectors but they were united in their views on the tax machinery and the higher tax rates on import of raw materials.

They also demanded of the government to appoint trade development officers abroad instead of commercial councillors and they should be nominated from Pakistan and should not be of foreign origin.