Govt firmly committed to reduce cost of doing business, improve ease of doing business: PM

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan on Wednesday said that the government was firmly committed to reduce cost of doing business and to improve country’s ranking in the ease of doing business by extending maximum facilitation and provision of all possible support to the business community.

The prime minister was chairing a meeting of the Council of Business Council here at Prime Minister’s Office.

The prime minister said that in order to strengthen local industry and reduce cost of production, gas prices had been reduced for export oriented industries so as to make Pakistani products internationally competitive. He said that the government was also considering reduction in various duties including custom duty, regulatory duties and others to further reduce business cost.

He said that the government was also working on developing a national tariff policy to address issues of the business community and to remove anomalies in the existing tariff structure.

On improving country’s ranking in ease of doing business in the country, the prime minister said that the government had set the target of bringing the country into the list of first 100 countries by extending maximum facilitation and simplification of the procedures.

The prime minister said that a special Complaint and Suggestion Cell was being established at Board of Investment to facilitate redressal of the complaints of the business community and welcome their suggestions with regards to business policies. He said that the Complaint and Suggestion Cell, which would be connected to Prime Minister’s Office would be functional in a week’s time.

The prime minister also appreciated the input of the business leaders belonging to various sectors of economy, who presented various proposals during the meeting for strengthening of economy and promoting critical sectors such as manufacturing sector, small and medium enterprises, agriculture and IT sector.

Those who attended the meeting included, among others, Muhammad Ali Tabba, Bashir Ali Muhammad, Shahid Sooty, Seema Aziz, Azam Farooque, Shahid Abdullah, Khawar Anwar Khawaja, Babar Badar, Saqib Shirazi, Samina Rizwan, Almas Haider, Abdul Rauf and Zarak Khan.

Minister for Finance Asad Umar, Advisor on Commerce Abdul Razzak Dawood and senior officers were also present during the meeting.