ECC approves steering committee for wheat import mechanism
- Committee will do need assessment and devise operational mechanism with reference to proposal of Wheat import and demand of provinces
The ECC approved a steering committee, led by Deputy PM Ishaq Dar, to assess wheat import needs and develop an operational plan with provinces, following a decision to import 1 million tons to stabilize prices.
- Formation of the wheat import steering committee.
- Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar's leadership.
- Government's 1 million ton wheat import plan.
The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet on Wednesday approved the formation of a steering committee, headed by Deputy Prime Minister Ishaq Dar, to assess wheat import requirements and devise an operational mechanism in consultation with the provinces.
The development came as Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb virtually chaired the ECC meeting at the Finance Division, an official statement read.
The summary was submitted by the National Food Security & Research Division.
The ECC considered and approved the proposal to constitute a steering committee comprising Federal Minister for National Food Security & Research; Federal Minister for Commerce; Federal Minister for Economic Affairs Division; Minister for Law Division; SAPM for Coordination of the Office of the Deputy Prime Minister/Minister of Foreign Affairs; Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Agriculture and Food Security; Secretary for Finance Division; Secretary for Ministry of Commerce; Secretary for Ministry of National Food Security & Research; Chairman Federal Board of Revenue (FBR); Chief Secretaries of Punjab, Sindh, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Balochistan; Chairman Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) under the Chairmanship of Deputy Prime Minister.
“The steering committee will, inter alia, do the need assessment and devise operational mechanism with reference to proposal of Wheat import and demand of provinces,” the Finance Division said.
To bridge domestic supply and demand gaps, the government last week decided to import one million tons of wheat and release the existing stock of wheat with the Pakistan Agricultural Storage and Services Corporation (PASSCO) to all provinces as per their requirements to stabilise market prices.
On Tuesday, the federal government asked provincial governments to submit their total wheat requirements in writing to help the central authorities devise an appropriate distribution strategy for the release of the commodity to all provinces.
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