ISLAMABAD, Sept 14: European countries and USA should relax duties to give more access to the Pakistani products as the country is passing through the toughest time of its history due to the floods which have caused large scale damage across the country.

As per estimates damages to the farm sector stand at more than $2.9 billion that include cotton crop on 700,000 acres, 200,000 acres of sugarcane and 200,000 acres of rice, in addition to the loss of over 500,000 tons of stocked wheat, and 300,000 acres of animal fodder.

This was stated by president of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry Zahid Maqbool on Tuesday while presiding over a meeting of the commerce committee. He said that Pakistan was facing serious economic challenges and recent floods had further dented its economy that would take a long time to recover.

Foreign countries along with providing financial and material support to help the flood effected people should also provide opportunities to Pakistani exporters to ship their products on reduced duties.

He said that thousands of miles of highways, railways network and a large number of buildings had collapsed causing a loss of billions to the Pakistan’s economy and the international community should provide complete support to meet these challenges.—APP