ISLAMABAD: The Federal Minister for Privatisation, Fawad Hasan Fawad, chaired the first meeting of the SIFC Working Group to discuss impediments in the development of Special Economic Zones (SEZs) with the objective of fast-tracking industrialisation.

The meeting was attended by the all relevant stakeholders in the provincial governments and their industrial zone authorities.

In a presentation, the additional secretary, Board of Investment (BOI) and DG, SEZs highlighted the major impediments faced by existing SEZs and the framework requirements of future SEZs.

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The BOI proposed the development of a One-Stop-Shop facilitation for future SEZs. The forum discussed the limitations of the concept of One-Stop-Shop and pointed out towards the need of a mutual agreement between the federal and provincial governments for a development framework based on international best practices and standards, within that the need of a legal mandate in the constitutional scheme was also highlighted.

The issues of identification and allotment of land, cost competitiveness, provision of utilities, human resource constraints and consistency of policies were also discussed.

It was agreed that based on the key takeouts of the meeting a working paper, containing solutions and a clear roadmap for the future, will be circulated for the second and final meeting of the working group to be held preferably in next week.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2023