ISLAMABAD, Oct 23: The commerce ministry has formally asked the finance division for allocation of an additional amount for the revival and upgradation of trade officer posts in around 12 countries.

Informed sources told Dawn on Saturday that the prime minister has already approved the summary of the revival and upgradation of these posts on August 3, 2004 but the ministry of finance was yet to approve the funding for it.

According to these sources, the foreign office was also opposing upgradation and revival of some posts in a few countries.

According to the approved summary, the two trade offices would be revived and upgraded one each at Moscow and New Delhi where now an officer of BS-20 will be posted.

The ministry also proposed revival of trade offices one each at Lagos (Nigeria) and Sao Paulo (Brazil), where an officer of BS-19 will be posted. Similarly, trade offices will be revived at Jakarta (Indonesia), Warsaw (Poland) and Almaty (Kazakhstan), where an officer of BS-18 will be posted, respectively.

According to the sources, the posts at Kula Lumpur (Malaysia) and Kandahar (Afghanistan) will be upgraded from BS-18 to BS-19. And three new trade offices will be opened one each at Urumchi (China), Chicago (USA) and Hamburg (Germany) where an officer of BS-19 will be posted.

Interestingly, the government has already selected and trained officers who are awaiting postings at Moscow, New Delhi, Sao Paulo, Warsaw, Almaty and Kula Lumpur, respectively.