ISLAMABAD: The Senate was informed on Wednesday that value addition and processing have become essential to increase Pakistan's exports.
The Senate resumed its session with Chairman Mian Raza Rabbani in the chair. Minister for Commerce Khurram Dastgir Khan told the House during question hour that the government has taken various steps under strategic trade policy framework to enhance exports of value-added products.
He said technology upgradation support is provided in the shape of investment and mark-up support to industries related to fans, home appliances, rice, cutlery and sports goods.
He said Prime Minister's Trade Enhancement Package has provided zero rating of machinery imports and drawback of taxes, cascaded in terms of value addition to encourage exports of the value-added goods.
To a question, Minister for Climate Change Zahid Hamid told the House that National Disaster Management Authority is proactively working to reduce risks and vulnerabilities to disasters and provide coping mechanisms to climate change phenomenon.
He said NDMA is providing an overall guiding framework for building resilience of the country to disasters.
He said over 162 courses were conducted for the capacity building of 7272 government officials and civilians to cope with national disasters.
To another question, Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Shaikh Aftab Ahmad told the House that the government has taken various steps to revive tourism.
He said Pakistan Tourism Development Corporation restaurant at Daman-e-Koh in Islamabad has been opened while Pakistan Tourism Friends Club has been launched to facilitate domestic and international tourists.
He said over three million rupees have been spent for repair and maintenance of existing PTDC motels and facilities across the country.
He said Rawalpindi-Naran Bus Service is plied every summer to attract more and more tourists. The Senate also passed "The Pakistan Commissions of Inquiry Bill, 2016". The bill moved by Law Minister Zahid Hamid provides for the constitution of Commissions of Inquiry.
Highlighting salient features of the bill, the Minister said that the legislation is aimed at setting up fact-finding Commissions on a number of important national issues in the past with greater powers.
He said it provides for the constitution of a powerful commission for investigation into various issues including Panama Papers.
He said the scope of this commission will be wider and it will have all the authority to constitute special teams of experts as well as international teams to get the required information.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar in a policy statement in the Senate on Wednesday evening said that Pakistan is going to sign an agreement with Switzerland on exchange of information regarding bank accounts on 21st of this month.
He said several meetings were held with the Swiss Authorities and now they have invited Pakistan to sign the agreement.
He said Pakistan has already signed the Multilateral Convention on Tax Matters with Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) on September 14, 2016 which is going to be operationalized next year.
He said Pakistan is the 104th member of the Organization.
He said after the operationalization of this convention, it will be impossible to keep tax evasion money in these countries.
The House held discussion on a motion moved by Mian Muhammad Ateeq Shaikh regarding writing off of Rs. 4600 million loans by the banks on their own discretion and without bringing the same into the notice of the government.
Speaking on the motion, Minister for Law Zahid Hamid said that the government has nothing to do with writing off loans by various banks. He said banks individual boards of director write off loans according to the laid down procedure of the State Bank of Pakistan.
He said writing off loans is not done in isolation and it is a public matter. He clarified that National Bank of Pakistan had not written off any loan since March, 2010.
The Senate also passed a unanimous resolution acknowledging the contribution of Pakistani women from every walk of life, including homemakers, farmers, domestic helpers, labour, film-makers, educationists, artists, doctors, writers, poet, media persons and legislators, and paid tribute to the relentless efforts of Pakistan women for the development and progress of the country.
The resolution moved by Leader of the House Raja Zafar-ul-Haq saluted the struggle for standing against dictators of the democratic rights of the people of Pakistan.
This House reaffirmed its commitment to protect the constitutional rights of women and ensured to promote their safety and welfare?, the House said. Responding to a calling attention notice moved by Syed Shibli Faraz and others, regarding the soaring of circular debt pertaining to IPPs and the threat of exercising of legal remedies by such IPPs to call on the sovereign guarantees, Minister for Water and Power Khawaja Muhammad Asif told the House that sovereign guarantees have not been called by the IPPs and there is no need of any anxiety. He said IPPs cannot serve notice through newspapers and this attempt appears malicious.
He said circular debt will be brought down through commercial arrangements and regulatory interventions. He said the government will pay 30 billion rupees to IPPs next week to bring down circular debt and rest of the payment will also be cleared very soon.
He said the government has paid an outstanding amount of 39 billion rupees to Khyber-Pakhtunkhwa which also caused a surge in circular debt.
He said the debt will be paid off once recovery from consumers starts.
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