LAHORE, Jan 21: Emphasizing the need to encourage export-led growth, a former commerce minister has urged the exporters to concentrate on diversification of products and foreign markets to increase the export volume.

Speaking at a three-day marketing conference on Tuesday, Abdul Razak Dawood said “Pakistan’s export revenue largely depends on export of 10 main products to as many countries.” Three items — textiles, leather and rice — bring in 70 per cent of the entire export revenue, he added.

Dawood, who served as trade minister for around three years in the previous military government, said: “Pakistan gave up pursuing its import-substitution policy in the 1990s, and began encouraging export-led growth strategy that was actively followed in the last three years.” He said several other Asian countries — Indonesia, Malaysia and Korea — had pursued export-led growth policies that resulted in massive increase in their export revenues.

He was sorry to note that only about 15 per cent companies of the country were into export business. “Only about five per cent of them are direct exporters,” he added.

Dawood said: “Pakistan’s exports increased by $700 million in 2002, 41 per cent of which came from non-traditional items, as a result of previous government’s efforts.” Similarly, he said, Pakistan’s exports to Africa and Eastern Europe — non-traditional markets — rose by 30 per cent as against the average 16 per cent.

He was of the view that the private sector should rely more on itself rather than on official crutches. He said the government should focus on creating infrastructure and reducing cost of doing business to help the export-oriented and other industries.

Speaking on the occasion, leading banker Shaukat Tareen said Pakistan’s banking sector had matured to a level where most banks had in the recent past successfully introduced a variety of innovative financial products to expand their customer base.

He said the concept of branded financial products in Pakistan was first introduced by a foreign bank in the early 1990s to attract foreign currency accounts.