ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Raja Pervez Ashraf on Friday urged all the departments concerned to make sincere efforts for achieving the cumulative three-year export target of dollars 95 billion.
Addressing a meeting on Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2012- 15 held here, the Prime Minister said although it was an ambitious target, yet it was achievable.
He asked the Ministry of Commerce to implement its trade policy proposals and carry out six monthly evaluations to re-adjust its polices to cope with the emerging national and international trade situation.
The Prime Minister said the Trade Policy Framework would be a very important policy milestone for growth of the economy during the next few years.
"We live in an era of ever increasing inter-dependency of economies and unprecedented flow of goods and services across borders, therefore the Trade Policy is an important instrument to give direction and facilitate regional and international trade," he added.
He said while learning lessons from the successful regional models, there is a need to prepare policies according to the emerging trends.
The Prime Minister said, "Our government attaches high priority to the export-led growth of the economy."
The export-led growth not only adds to the national wealth but also creates job opportunities and reduces poverty, he added.
Appreciating the efforts of Ministry of Commerce, he said it was need of the hour to fill the `institutional deficit' in Pakistan through creation of some institutions of national importance such as the Land Port Authority of Pakistan, Exim Bank, Trade Review Committee, Domestic Commerce Wing and Foreign Trade in Services Wing, Leather Export Council, Services Export Development Council etc.
He hoped that the regulatory amendments to the Export Policy Order and Import Policy Order, which were presented to him in detail in August 2012, had been finalized in consultation with all the stakeholders in the public and private sectors.
The Prime Minister said he was sure that the amendments would make doing business in Pakistan easy and streamline further trade procedures and eliminate red tapism and unfair trade practices.
Referring to competitors, particularly China and India which were giving huge domestic support and export subsidies to their manufacturers, the Prime Minister said, "We must try to provide a level playing field to our exporters, as much as possible."
He said normalizing trade with India would create new challenges for Pakistan and giving a minimum of government support to exporters was a national responsibility.
The Prime Minister said there was a need to utilise full potential of exports from Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Balochistan, Gilgit-Baltistan and AJK.
He said it was vital that trade offices abroad should pursue the agenda of enhancing exports more energetically and with all-out efforts.
The Prime Minister appreciated the Ministry of Commerce for taking measures to improve the performance of trade officers abroad and establishing a modern resource management system for better utilization of funds available to it.
Referring to the absence of certain important institutions in the country to achieve export targets, the Prime Minister said one of those was Exim bank, which was severely undermining export competitiveness.
"We want to set the ball rolling and hope the provinces will also play an active part in the development of Exim bank to take care of the credit, export guarantees and development needs of our export sector in the medium to long terms in a sustainable way," he added.
Referring to the allocation of Rs. 10 billion to the Export Investment Support Fund for the year 2012-13 by the Ministry of Finance, the Prime Minister said the distribution of Rs. 30 billion over the past three years was rather lopsided as the textile sector got Rs. 23 billion, whereas the non-textile sector which accounted for at least 45pc of the total exports, received only Rs. 3 billion.
This imbalance in the funds allocation needs to be corrected, he added.
The Prime Minister said the Ministry of Commerce had huge responsibility on its shoulders to boost the country's exports.
He directed the Ministry of Finance to provide Rs. 5 billion to Ministry of Commerce in time so that the export development initiatives could be launched without delay.
The Prime Minister said the present government supported the exporters and directed the Ministry of Finance and the Ministry of Commerce to ensure all facilities to them.
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