KARACHI, April 3: The government will make all-out efforts for resolving problems facing the industrial sector to facilitate growth.

This was stated by the Secretary Ministry of Industries and Production Javed Ashraf Husain while speaking at the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) here on Saturday.

"The ministry is ready to facilitate the industrial sector and remove the bottlenecks, impediments and hurdles in the way of its development", he said.

Mr Husain pointed out that the economy was moving in the right direction.

Recalling the past decades, he said that Pakistan lagged behind in the export of value-added items compared to other nations of Asia including Philippines, South Korea, Thailand, etc., despite the fact that it started the race along with these countries.

He said that private sector was more vibrant than the public sector and, therefore, the government had embarked upon a aggressive privatization policy.

Responding to the complaint of price rise of locally produced goods, he said that the ministry had taken cognizance of the criticism. "The ministry will hold meetings with the manufacturers to find ways and means to resolve their problems," he added.

Earlier, FPCCI vice-president Engr M A Jabbar asked the federal secretary to implement the recommendations of the task force on electricity.

He urged him for a result-oriented action on the recommendation of task force on cars at the earliest for balancing the interest of both assemblers and consumers.

He demanded for floating a summary for Economic Coordination Committee to arrange zero tax on import of capital goods and machinery to boost investment with waiting for budget announcement.

Chairman FPCCI standing committee on industrial promotion Abdul Shakoor Khatri suggested various proposals for boosting industrial growth in the country.

He also urged the government to brought down general sales tax rate from 15 to 7.5 per cent.-APP