KARACHI, Jan 3: A comprehensive national industrial policy would be announced next month after consultations with the private sector throughout the country, said Federal Secretary for Production and Industries Abdul Ghaffar Soomro.

In a meeting with members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry, here at the chamber on Monday, he stated that the ministry of production and industries was also working on Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) Act for promoting small and medium enterprises. This Act would come up soon.

The federal secretary said that his ministry was trying its best to ensure maximum participation of private sector in formulation of this policy so that it could be fully implemented and the target of rapid industrial growth in the country could easily be achieved.

For making the industrial policy practicable, he added, it is also very essential to take other concerned ministries on board. These include ministries of commerce, finance, petroleum, and water and power.

He said the government believes in public-private partnership and is taking private sector people on board to the maximum possible extent.

He said the country could not witness industrial growth unless energy sector is developed/strengthened and the present government has taken very important decisions on this front.

Work is also in progress on projects of bringing natural gas from Iran and from Central Asian Republics.Mr Soomro underlined the need for boosting export of engineering goods through diversification.

The secretary said the issue of import of used cars would once again be referred to Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) when his attention was drawn to the government's notification of Dec 28.

He said the government had taken notice of repeatedly increasing prices of cars by the auto industry in Pakistan because of lack of competition.—APP