ISLAMABAD, Feb 19: The commerce ministry has so far failed to implement the whole of the initiatives announced in the last two years trade policies for the promotion and enhancement of the exports.
Well-placed sources told Dawn on Friday that the commerce ministry has so far implemented half of the initiatives announced in the trade policy of 2003-04.
The sources said that despite the fact that the remaining initiatives were implemented completely; the commerce ministry came up with yet another trade policy for the year 2004-05 carrying again an ambitious list of initiatives for the promotion of the trade.
The lukewarm response of the ministry towards the implementation of the trade policy has made most of the initiatives less attractive for the exporters during the last two years, added the sources.
The sources said that the schemes announced in the trade policy, which were not implemented during the year 2003-04 mostly included, technology up-gradation and marketing enterprise level, retail sales-promoting "Pakistan Product", construction/engineering services sectors, up-gradation fund, contamination free cotton, services sector, skills development council, re-organization of export promotion bureau (EPB), quality management, cost of utilities, inter-ministerial committee, hall marking, compliance machinery and equipment, civil awards, special export zones.
The sources said that on the other hand, all the initiatives announced in the trade policy of 2003-04 for facilitating imports were, however, implemented completely through a single notification after the announcement of the trade policy.
On the other hand, the commerce ministry has implemented only a few initiatives of the total initiatives announced in the trade policy of 2004-05. According to the sources, the interest of the ministry could be gauged from the fact that so far only one or two meetings were held by the ministry trade wizards to review the implementation status of the initiatives.
The ministry has been dominated by the officials from the district management group (DMG). The officials posted at higher slot from DMG are followed by customs and excise group.
The senior officials including the commerce minister and secretary and chairman EPB were spending most of their time in travelling abroad and energy during the last two years over the / - ? external trade diplomacy due to which the sources said the subordinate staff members were not properly following the implementation of the initiatives.
When contacted a source in the ministry on condition of anonymity told Dawn that the failure in the implementation of the trade policy was mainly because of the less interest of the export promotion bureau (EPB).
The EPB was responsible for the implementation of the trade policies, said the source and added the ministry could only formulate policies. On the other hand, the initiatives for which the EPB either issued notices or notified procedures were so cumbersome or lengthy that totally failed to attract maximum exporters to avail the facilities, added the sources.
"Both the parties, the commerce ministry and EPB are holding each other responsible for the failure in the implementation of the trade policies announced in the last two consecutive years," the sources said.