Govt prioritizes to boost national economy by trade-led growth: Report

ISLAMABAD, Aug 26 (APP):Pakistan Tehreek e Insaf (PTI) government has prioritized for boosting the national economy through trade-led growth by trade liberalization and facilitation, improving export competitiveness.

The government has adopted comprehensive policies for reducing the cost of doing business in the country.

The government has achieved higher market access for Pakistani products in existing markets as well as in new markets, said a ‘Three Years Performance Report “August 2018-21 issued here on Thursday.

The report said that ‘Making Pakistan Strategy’ has transformed Pakistan into a manufacturing and trading hub for the region.

The government will strive to place Pakistan in the top 100 economies of the world, according to the World Bank’s Doing Business rankings in five years.

The government would implement structural changes to the existing and outdated system to create a comprehensive and integrated approach to improve our balance of payment, drive innovation and diversify our exports.

The government will make Pakistan’s textile industry more competitive to boost exports and regain its position in the international markets.

Pakistan’s exports have relied on traditional export sectors and without a proper Strategy the trade deficit has always remained a problem and now the government has searched the new trading avenues of non-traditional potential markets at global level.

There were increasing counter claims on Pakistani origin products like Basmati Rice, Pink Salt etc and now after the consultation of stakeholders’ consultations for many years to approve Geographical Indicator (GI) Law.

The government has mainly focused on export marketing, better commercial intelligence, and trade diplomacy/market access through the diversification of export products and markets.

According to the report, the key objective is to diversify Pakistan’s exports, in terms of product diversification as well as geographical diversification.

The report said that Value-addition to exports is another objective, particularly in the textile sector and food processing.

In addition, the Ministry of Commerce, through tariff rationalization and budgetary intervention is promoting “Make in Pakistan”, which aims to reduce the import bill and boost export, managing the problem of balance of trade.

The government has augmented e-Commerce and digital industry’s growth to make it one of the key drivers of Pakistan’s economy.

According to the report, the government has signed different trade agreements and Memorandum of Understanding (MoU) for increasing multilateral trade with different trading destinations.

The establishment of Pak-Uzbekistan Joint Working Group on Trade and Economic Affairs was signed on10th September, 2020 and its 1st meeting was held on 1st February, 2021 in Tashkent.

The negotiations have resumed with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) for Trade Agreement (FTA) after 13 years, report said.

The 3rd Session of the Joint Working Group on Trade between Azerbaijan and Pakistan was held on 24th December, 2020.

The MoU on establishment of Border Sustenance Marketplaces with Iran was signed on 21st April, 2021 in Tehran, the report said.

The government has signed and implemented the Phase-II of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (PC-FTA) from 1st January 2020 followed by awareness campaign through ten seminars to apprise the business community of Pakistan about the benefits of this agreement.

As a result of successful negotiations, Indonesia agreed to grant a unilateral concession on 20 tariff lines to Pakistan which became operational on 1st March, 2019.

The incumbent government has initiated the trade diplomacy with different potential markets of the world including Europeon Union (EU).

The 3rd Biennial Review of EU,Generalized Schemes of Preferences (GSP-Plus) (2018-19) has been successfully concluded in March 2020 and the facility is to continue for Pakistan.

During last year’s diplomatic engagements were made with the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) on UK GSP Scheme.

First virtual Pakistan-Hungary Business Forum was held on 25th March, 2021 and moreover, an MoU between Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and
The Hungarian Export Promotion Agency (HEPA) has also been signed.

The first ever Pakistan Turkey Business and Investment Forum was held on February13-14th, 2020 to promote trade and investment opportunities in Pakistan for the Turkish side.
Around 40 Turkish companies participated and around 450 meetings were held for possible Joint Ventures and to explore avenues of cooperation.

Pakistan-Italy Footwear Technology Center was established in Lahore in October 2020 and Pak-Italy Textile Technology Center was established in Faisalabad in December 2020.

Pakistan export of Services Mode IV in the Italian labor market was revived after exclusion of Pakistan from the list of countries that are eligible to export labor services to Italy.

The Geographical Indications (Protection and Registration) Act, 2020 was passed by the Parliament in March, 2020.