Automotive industry: Govt calls for fundamental shift to boost export growth

ISLAMABAD: The government has called for a fundamental shift in Pakistan’s automotive industry from a predominantly domestic-market orientation towards export-driven production, with policymakers seeking greater investment, productivity and global market access.

Pakistan’s automotive industry has been identified as a key sector with the potential to drive the country’s high-value exports, as the government seeks to transform domestic industrial capacity into globally competitive production.

Policymakers, industry stakeholders and development partners gathered at the Planning Ministry on Wednesday for a policy dialogue titled “Unlocking Pakistan’s High-Value Export Potential: Threats and Opportunities for the Automotive Industry,” bringing together private sector stakeholders, academics, senior government officials and international development partners to deliberate on measures to enhance Pakistan’s automotive exports and contribute towards the USD 63 billion export target under URAAN Pakistan.

The session was jointly chaired by Federal Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives Prof Ahsan Iqbal, Federal Minister for Energy Sardar Awais Ahmad Khan Leghari and Adviser to the Prime Minister on Industries and Production Haroon Akhtar Khan.

Addressing the session, Federal Minister for Planning Ahsan Iqbal emphasized that export-led growth is the first and foremost component of URAAN Pakistan and must be treated not merely as an economic objective but as a national priority. He said that increasing exports was essential for Pakistan’s economic stability, self-reliance and sustainable development, stressing that the country could no longer afford to remain focused primarily on its domestic market.

“The only sustainable path to strengthening Pakistan’s economy is through exports,” the minister said, adding that Pakistan must transform its economic orientation from an inward-looking domestic market to a globally competitive, export-driven economy. He said the target of increasing Pakistan’s exports to USD 100 billion was a matter of national importance and required a fundamental shift in the way the country approached industry, investment, infrastructure and economic policy.

Minister Ahsan Iqbal said Pakistan already possessed industrial clusters and productive capacities that could be developed further to enhance the country’s competitiveness in international markets. However, he stressed the need to modernize these clusters, improve productivity, strengthen infrastructure, adopt new technologies and create an enabling policy environment to facilitate exports.

He said the automotive industry had a particularly important role to play in transforming Pakistan into a competitive export economy. The sector, he noted, had the potential to move beyond serving the domestic market and become a major contributor to Pakistan’s global exports. He expressed confidence that the new Auto Policy 2.0, under the leadership of Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, would help change the orientation of Pakistan’s automotive industry and facilitate its integration into global markets.

The minister stressed that Pakistan could not achieve sustainable economic strength by relying on borrowing and short-term measures.

“Pakistan needs a strong economy to secure a respectable place in the comity of nations, and the foundation of that strength must be exports,” he said.

Ahsan Iqbal urged the private sector to take the lead in driving Pakistan’s export agenda, saying that exporters, manufacturers, investors and industry leaders must adopt a growth-oriented mindset and make international markets a central part of their business strategies. He emphasized that the private sector was the principal driver of exports and would have to play a more proactive role in expanding Pakistan’s presence in global markets.

Calling for stronger government-private sector collaboration, the minister said both sides must work together to identify new export opportunities, remove bottlenecks and establish clear priorities for export-oriented growth. He urged chambers of commerce and industry across the country to encourage investors to explore export missions and develop sector-specific strategies to access international markets.

He called upon industry stakeholders to sit together and formulate five-year export plans, clearly identifying how much each sector could contribute to Pakistan’s exports and what support was required from the government to achieve those targets.

“We have no other choice; we must increase exports,” he said, emphasizing that the time had come to move from discussions and complaints to concrete action and implementation.

The minister said Pakistan needed a comprehensive district-level export development plan covering all regions and sectors of the country, with particular attention to areas where existing industrial capacities could be transformed into globally competitive export clusters.

He reiterated that increasing exports was critical to meeting Pakistan’s foreign exchange requirements and strengthening the country’s economic sovereignty. “Pakistan needs dollars, and sustainable foreign exchange earnings can only come through a stronger and more diversified export base,” he said.

The participants discussed challenges and opportunities facing Pakistan’s automotive export sector, including competitiveness, investment, productivity, technology, infrastructure, market access and policy facilitation.

The dialogue was part of a consultative series organized by the Planning Commission to promote Pakistan’s high-value export sectors and clusters.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2026