Cost of doing business for export units lowered

Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said on Friday that the government has no plan to allow import of reconditioned cars by local Pakistanis, but hoped that the number of used cars in the country would increase as a result of liberalisation of import policy for overseas Pakistanis.
"The government has further liberalised 'used cars policy' for overseas Pakistanis due to which the number of imported cars would increase, but presently there is no plan to allow import of reconditioned cars," he said while addressing a post-'trade policy 2005-06' press conference.
The Commerce Minister, who had also invited foreign diplomats, said that the government had reduced the cost of doing business for the manufacturers of export-oriented products by reducing capital cost.
"We have zeroed the sales tax and minimised the customs duty (on machinery and/or materials) for the five exporting industries that include surgical, textile, leather, carpets and sports goods," he said, adding that it would help a lot in reducing the capital cost of industry which would ultimately help market the products in international markets with more competitive prices.
Asked how the government would achieve export target of $17 billion, which apparently looks difficult, the minister said he was optimistic of achieving the target as the country has increased its production capacity for this purpose.
He said that commercial counsellors were being given targets to increase exports. They would be monitored monthly and, if the performance of any counsellor was found unsatisfactory, he would be called back.
When asked about the Generalised System of Preferences (GSPs) of the EU, he said that in the days to come the GSP duty by EU on Pakistan's textiles and garments would be reduced by 20 percent, and the duty on other items, which stands at 3.5 percent, would be zero.
He said that restructuring of Export Promotion Board (EPB) was on the cards and decision in this regard would be taken soon by Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz.
He said that Pakistan has been exporting mangoes to China, and export of Kinnos would start very soon. He said China is a big market and export of rice and other food items there would help surge the export volume. He said that the government was concentrating on diversification of exports and in this regard it is focusing on exploring markets for export of rice and other food and fruit items. In addition to it, the government has taken special initiatives to increase the volume of exports of gems and jewellery.
Regarding trade with India, he said that that progress in trade was linked with progress on political front, and added that if there would be progress on political issues, trade would enhance.
"As far as the Safta (South Asia Free Trade Agreement) is concerned, the technical talks among the exporters of Saarc states are on schedule and the progress on SAPTA is quite satisfactory and hopefully Safta will be enforced by January 1, 2006."
The minister said that both the countries have been discussing trade related problems and in this regard a Joint Study Group is working on it and looking at the problems and impediments in trade regime of India.
About the continuous increase in trade deficit, he said that trade deficit was expected to come down and clarified that overall Pakistan's balance of payment position was very good. "So, one should not worry about the increasing trade deficit." He added that Pakistan would have exportable surplus to achieve export target.