ISLAMABAD: The Japanese government has urged Islamabad to ensure the safety of personnel working on Official Development Assistance (ODA) projects and resolve import restrictions on automobile manufacturers.
These matters were discussed during the 8th Japan-Pakistan High-Level Economic Dialogue (JPHLEPD) held in Tokyo, according to well-informed sources who spoke to Business Recorder.
The sources revealed that, in non-papers shared by the Economic Section of the Japanese Embassy in Islamabad, the Japanese side emphasized the importance of Pakistan consistently implementing the International Monetary Fund (IMF) program. They also called on Pakistan to streamline tax and customs exemption procedures through the Ministry of Economic Affairs to address insufficient understanding of bilateral international commitments regarding these exemptions.
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Other requests from Japanese side were as follows:
(i) clarifying procedures of service tax exemptions and facilitating communication with provincial governments regarding technical cooperation projects;
(ii) ensuring the safety of personnel on the ODA projects;
(iii) ensuring proper maintenance and management of the facilities and equipment that have already been installed at the ODA project sites;
(iv) encouraging the timely implementation of ODA projects by the Ministry of Economic Affairs to relevant stakeholders considering the stagnation of domestic procedures such as PC-1 approval or bank arrangements;
(v) promotion of exports and investments in Pakistan; and (vii) ensuring the elimination of the minimum tax in SEZs and improving current situations.
Japanese official also stated that cases have arisen where Japanese companies are required to pay income tax in advance when importing materials in SEZs. They asked for facilitation in visa application process for Japanese businesspersons.
Lifting the import ban on monosodium glutamate (MSG)promptly (which is already done), promotion of the development of basic infrastructure for industrial sites, including SEZs and resolution of import restrictions on automobile manufacturers were also included in the demands of Japanese officials.
It was also urged to sort out the existing Japan-Pakistan framework, existing Public-Private Joint Economic Dialogue and hosting of Joint Trade Commission, Japan-Pakistan Private Sector Business Conference, etc.
On Pakistani side, officials urged economic cooperation, resumption of Yen loan projects, provision of information from Pakistan to Japan to consider the resumption of yen-loan projects, expansion of the number of recipients in the JDS program and acceleration in the decision making processes by Japanese contractors for ODA projects
Promotion of Pakistan’s exports and investments, acceleration of the process of adding varieties of mangoes to be exported to Japan, increasing textile products to be exported to Japan, establish a Joint Working Group on trade promotion and product development between JETRO and TDAP.
According to sources, Japanese Embassy has pledged that Tokyo would make efforts to resolve issue based on non-papers, rather than spending time revisiting the wording of minutes.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2025
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