I REFER to Afshan Sabohi’s piece, “Rescuing poor big business” (Dawn Business and Finance, Dec 11). There are a number of surprising conclusions about the Pakistan Business Council Agenda for the economy.

Make in Pakistan is an initiative to grow employment in the country. How could one possibly conclude that the PBC was seeking free hiring and firing rights? To suggest this at the outset of this piece is misleading.

The PBC did not advocate scrapping any trade agreement — merely their renegotiation to Pakistan’s full advantage, amongst others, by factoring impact on jobs and ensuring value-added exports, not just commodities. If this is interpreted as protection, then the PBC is proud to advocate protection of jobs and the country’s interests. Surely if one accepts, as the Ministry of Commerce now does, that some agreements have been ill-negotiated, then seeking rectification of there is correct.

Contrary to her assertion, in Agenda 5, the PBC has reiterated its full support for the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) at the same time cautioning that the concessional terms and facilities under consideration for SEZs could impact local industry and fail to produce incremental jobs and exports. We, like Dawn and others, seek greater transparency.

The Agenda (Point 4) very dearly mentions the responsibility of business to improve its productivity and quality and open itself to fresh competition. We cite the auto sector as one such industry that will benefit from greater choice.

A fundamental flaw in the critique of the PBC Agenda is that Make in Pakistan is just about promoting the interests of big business and that small and medium-sized business (both as suppliers of goods as well as of services) do not benefit by it. The article alludes to the need for industry to invest, oblivious of retrogressive taxation, irrespective of fiscal and import policies that promote imports over production.

Ehsan Malik
Karachi

Published in Dawn, December 13th, 2017