SIALKOT, July 20: The Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) and other local trade bodies term the new trade policy ‘business friendly’.

SCCI President Babar Iqbal and SVP Muhammad Sadiq Goraya said that incentives for special zones, extension of 25 per cent export subsidy till July 2004 and rewards for exporters for tapping new markets for new products would be helpful in achieving the fixed export target of $12.1 billion.

They hoped that the organization of independent industrial clusters in Sialkot would give a boom to export-oriented sports goods and surgical industries, while the establishment of a cluster development directorate in the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) would solve export sector problems.

Heads of Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association (SIMA) of Pakistan, Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PSGMEA), Pakistan Gloves Association, Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers & Exporters Association (PRGMEA) North Zone and Sialkot Markazi Anjuman Tajran said that the government was “feeling the pulse” of the business community.—Correspondent