PM chairs 2nd meeting of Board of Approvals of Special Economic Zones Acts

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Tuesday chaired the second meeting of the Board of Approval of Special Economic Zones Acts here which took stock of its earlier decisions in its meeting of January 23, 2013 and confirmed the minutes.

The meeting was informed that all the decisions taken in the first board meeting had been implemented. It was informed that Provincial Special Economic Zones (SZEs) Authority had been established and notified by all the provinces and consultation process on draft rules between SEZ Authorities and Board of Investment had been completed.

It was informed that notification had been issued regarding the membership of Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour and Khurram Hashmi, Advocate.

The board decided to delegate all powers of function and responsibilities of BOA to Approval Committee as provided under section 7(2) of SEZ Act, 2012. However, the decisions taken by the Approval Committee shall be submitted to BOA in its meeting or by circulation for approval as provided by Section 7(4) of SEZ Act 2012.

The meeting also approved appointment of four members for each SEZ Authority, which include two members of BOA and two members nominated by the concerned Chief Minister.

Accordingly the board approved nomination for Punjab Abdul Basit, Chairman Poultry Traders Association and Mustafa Ramday, Advocate Supreme Court as nominated by Chief Minister Punjab and Tanveer Ashraf Kaira and Misbahur Rehman as nominees of the BOA.

For Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, Senator and President KPK Chamber of Commerce as nominee by the Chief Minister and Ilyas Bilour and Faisal Afridi as nominee by the BOA.

The meeting urged governments of Sindh, Balochistan and Gilgit-Baltistan to expedite nomination of provincial representatives to make provincial SEZs operational.

The board also approved Board of Investment to work as Authority for Islamabad Capital Territory.

The meeting also adopted SEZ draft Rules, 2013 under the Article 40 of the SEZ Act 2013. The meeting was informed that the SEZ Rules 2013 had been prepared in consultation with provincial SEZ Authorities.

The meeting decided that one industrial state will be designated as SEZ in each province to encourage investment and business activities in the country.

The meeting was attended by Minister for Finance Saleem H. Mandviwala, Minister for SAFRON Abbas Khan Afridi, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Dr Nadeem ul Haq, Senator Ilyas Ahmed Bilour, Chief Secretary Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Chief Secretary Balochistan, Chairman FBR, Secretaries Law, Board of Investment, Commerce, Foreign Affairs, Economic Affairs Division, Industries, Advisor Ministry of Finance and other senior officials.