SAARC countries: Call for developing common standard for export promotion

Director General South Asia Regional Standards Organisation (SARSO) Syed Humayun Kabir on Tuesday stressed upon the need of developing a common standard for export promotion among the SAARC countries.
Talking to Business Recorder on the sidelines of a seminar titled 'awareness/understanding on the importance of regional standardisation activities and their implementation in enhancing regional trade', he said South Asian Association of Regional Corporation (SAARC) countries' mutual trade share contributed some five percent of the global trade that needed to be enhanced manifold as the regional counties have got huge markets with full of potential for each others.
He deplored that nearly 25 percent of total trade volume among the SAARC countries was presently being rejected due to difference of standards. The standard related bearers need to be removed without wasting further time, he said. "We want to develop a single (one common) standard for South Asia through harmonisation. Ones trade barriers are removed, mutual exports would certainly go up significantly and economies would stable," he said.
The event was jointly organised by Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority (PSQCA) in collaboration with SARSO - a special body of SAARC here at a local hotel. Kabir said the benefit of sharing ideas with highly learned, trade promotion organisations along with private entrepreneurs in this seminar would help SAARC counties in boosting the regional trade. He said trade in the region was 1.4 percent of the total world imports and 1.2 percent of exports, merchandise trade stands at some 27.9 percent of GDP - the lowest in the world, he added.
Dr Barkat Saeed, DG PSQCA, told this scribe that the day-long seminar was a joint initiative of PSQCA and SARSO primarily aimed at spreading awareness among the stakeholders as well as to boost standards through policy sharing with the member countries.
"We have also invited highly learned speakers from local business community such as Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industries (FPCCI), Karachi Chambers of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), representative of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) to get their ideas and take them on board in the policy harmonisation process," Barkat added.
M. A. Jabbar, member BoD of PSQCA, and other guests from SAARC Consulates also spoke on this occasion. Umer Kazi, Secretary PSQCA, Shabbir Ahmad Quraishi, Director Quality Control, Rehmatullah Memon, media advisor, Abdul Waheed Memon and others also attended the event.