Industrial raw material: Import duty to be slashed by 6 percent: Dawood

LAHORE: Prime Minister's Advisor on Trade and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood has said that the import duty on industrial raw material is being slashed by six percent with effect from January 1, 2021, which will benefit the local industry. The advisor stated this while addressing a meeting of businessmen on Saturday.

He asked the industrialists to submit their suggestions regarding long-term industrial planning. He said the establishment of a state-of-the-art laboratory was imperative for certification of products. The areas where industrial units had been established needed to be given the status of industrial estate.

Punjab Minister for Industries and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal also spoke on the occasion while Trade and Industry Secretary Wasif Khursheed, PIEDMC chairman Nabeel Hashmi, Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Mian Tariq Misbah and office-bearers of Sialkot, Gujranwala, Faisalabad, Rawalpindi and Gujrat chambers of commerce and industry were also present.

Abdul Razak Dawood assured the business community that issues relating to export rebate, refund and DLTL would be resolved on a priority basis. He asked the business community to take benefit of the government's temporary economic refinance facility.

This scheme of the federal government's worth Rs100 billion will continue till March 2021. Punjab Minister for Industries and Trade Mian Aslam Iqbal said that for the first time, four special economic zones were being developed in the private sector.

He said an investment of Rs600 billion would be generated by setting up new cement plants in the province. The minister further said that mapping for establishment of new industries in the province had been completed in cooperation with the urban unit.

He further said that enrollment of 233,000 students for technical education had been completed in the TEVTA institutes. He said that an inspector-less regime had been finalized which would be enforced across the province shortly. The minister also gave a briefing on future strategy and promotion of industrialization in the province.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2020