PESHAWAR, July 1: Pakistan Industrial Development Corporation Director Ghulam Sarwar Mohamand has asked the federal government to assign the Trade Development Authority (TDA) a special task of developing the trade and industrial sectors of the NWFP.

He said on Sunday that the government should support the industrial base of the NWFP that would not only contribute to the overall growth of the country’s manufacturing sector, but also mitigate the backwardness of the province.

Mr Mohmand said that due to wrong policies of the government, Pakistani products were losing their market in Afghanistan.

He said Pakistan’s export to Afghanistan had showed a decline of $400 million during the fiscal year 2006-07, adding that the manufacturers and exporters of the NWFP were the ultimate losers of the decreasing trade volume between the two sides.

Mr Mohmand said the local business community had actively participated in the rebuilding of the war-ravaged Afghanistan by substantially increasing the exports because of geographical advantage and traditional linkages across the border. But, he regretted that due to negligence on the part of the TDA and the federal government no further improvement could be made.

He said the downward trend of exports from Pakistan offered a free hand to other neighbouring countries, particularly Iran, to capture such a huge market.

He was of the view that the NWFP would lose its status as a gateway to Afghanistan and the Central Asian republics, if immediate attention was not paid to industrial and trade growth of the province.

He said that the US-backed Reconstruction Opportunities Zone, being established at the adjoining tribal areas, would not be viable without having suitable markets in Afghanistan and the Central Asian countries.

Mr Mohmand reminded that being the president of the Sarhad Commerce of Chamber and Industry in 2003 he had organised an Afghan trade fair, wherein trade agreements worth $220 million were signed.