ISLAMABAD: Minister for Commerce, Engr. Khurram Dastgir Khan has said that the Ministry of Commerce was focusing to develop and train new exporters from Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) sector to boost Pakistan's export in the coming years.
"There is a need of a hand-holding of the prospective SME exporters and guide them to graduate to the next level", the Minister said while talking to a delegation of technical experts of Center for Promotion of Imports from Developing Countries (CBI) based in The Hague, Netherlands.
CBI is working in Pakistan since 2008 and is in the process of developing its new five-year plan for Pakistan, said a message received here on Tuesday. A team of technical experts from Netherlands is visiting Pakistan soon to seek ground-level information to provide input for the next plan.
The Minister asked the CBI experts to focus on assisting Pakistani enterprises to develop their products through Export Coaching Programs (ECPs) in industrial and consumer products primarily in fruits and vegetables sector, floriculture, fisheries, specific sectors of textile and light engineering according to GSP Plus requirements.
He also asked the CBI delegation to lay special emphasis on export coaching, institutional development and human resource development in the next plan.
Last year a Memorandum of Cooperation was signed between the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan and CBI in The Hague, Netherlands for the institutional building of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and capacity building of other business support organizations in Pakistan.
CBI will also work for institutional development of other Business Support Organisations (BSO) active in the industrial, surgical, medical equipment and agriculture sectors.
The CBI is currently extending its support to Pakistan Institute of Trade and Development, National Productivity Organizations, Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, Engineering Development Board, Small and Medium Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA) and Pakistan Association of Automobile Parts and Accessories (PAAPAM).
The representatives of the CBI said that their focus was to address the issues of prospective exporters at the sectoral level and build a sustainable supply chain for exports.
CBI will provide expert level guidance for product sophistication, certification, standardization and laboratory testing in order to prepare new exporters for the standard-conscious western markets.
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