ISLAMABAD, March 3: Prime Minister, Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said on Wednesday, the government would remove bottlenecks in the export of valuable cash crop of rice, besides, providing all facilities such as development of new varieties of rice and improvements in basmati rice seed.

Problems like brand registration and availability of better seeds will be addressed by the government on top priority, the Prime Minister said while talking to a 16-member delegation of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP), led by Abdul Rahim Janoo here at the PM House.

The Prime Minister observed that rice is an important cash crop and foreign exchange earner and directed the concerned stakeholders to enhance its exports. For the quick redressal of problems related to the export of rice, the Prime Minister deputed one senior officer of the Prime Minister's Secretariat to make liaison with seed development institutions, Ministry of Commerce and REAP to remove the bottlenecks.

The premier encouraged the exporters to look for enhanced market access in the countries, which are still untapped. He urged them to make effective use of media for marketing the export of basmati rice, which is the best rice in the world.

The Prime Minister, however, emphasized to focus more on quality rather than quantity. The delegation informed the Prime Minister that out of the target of $555 million for export of rice, REAP has exported rice worth $370 million in the last six months and would surpass this year's target.

Abdul Rahim Janoo informed the Premier that a delegation would visit India on March 9 to study feasibility of buying rice and processing machineries specially for the parboiled rice to enhance exports to Gulf countries to earn more foreign exchange.

The delegation thanked the Prime Minister for the reduction in duty that had resulted in more export of rice. The delegation included Jawad Rauf, Syed Zulfiqar Ali, Barrister Syed Najaf Hussain Shah, M. Anwar Mianoor, Muhammad Amjad, Mehmud Ahmed, Jawed Ali Ghouri, Muhammad Hanif Chaudhry, Muhammad Zubair Chaudhry, Muhammad Azhar Akhtar, Umer Ashfaq Butt, Malik Muhammad Jahangir, Saleem Paracha, Shahid Tawawala and Arshad Khalid. -APP