EDITORIAL: It has taken the Ministry of Commerce until November 2026 to spell out what should have been a routine requirement for overseas postings: selection on merit. Its new policy for support staff at Pakistan’s trade missions introduces competitive examinations, interviews, performance reports and eligibility rules.
That an elementary principle of public administration should qualify as reform says rather more about the bureaucracy than the policy’s authors might wish to advertise. And it raises a question that deserves an answer: what was preventing this from happening years ago?
Under the new arrangement, commercial assistants will be assessed through written and skills tests, interviews and performance evaluations, while drivers and security guards face separate eligibility and fitness requirements. Previous foreign postings, disciplinary records and training also figure in the framework. These provisions are welcome. Overseas assignments carry responsibilities and privileges, and the public is entitled to expect that those selected possess the skills to discharge them.
The announcement, however, arrives in a country where government employment is widely associated with recommendations, personal connections, and political patronage. This perception has become so entrenched that an official declaration of merit can sound almost revolutionary. The ministry has an opportunity to challenge that reputation through actual appointments and consistent standards. A circular bearing the right vocabulary will change little unless competence becomes the ordinary route to opportunity, rather than a principle periodically rediscovered when public confidence needs repairing.
There is also the matter of who falls within the new policy. Its detailed rules concern commercial assistants and other support staff. Yet the success of Pakistan’s trade missions ultimately depends on the calibre of officials directing commercial engagement abroad. Identifying new markets, dealing with regulatory barriers, cultivating buyers and attracting investment require specialist knowledge, initiative, and familiarity with an increasingly complex trading environment. The ministry should explain how senior commercial appointments are assessed and ensure that demonstrable expertise and performance govern postings at every level. It would be a strange meritocracy that begins and ends with the staff supporting the decision-makers.
This question goes to the heart of Pakistan’s chronic difficulties in international commerce. Trade promotion cannot be more effective than the institutions responsible for it. Too much of the public-sector machinery continues to operate through outdated procedures, rigid hierarchies, and an administrative culture in which seniority and access can count for more than results. Political influence over appointments compounds the problem. Meanwhile, competitors are negotiating supply-chain shifts, digital trade and increasingly demanding market standards. Pakistan cannot hope to compete effectively abroad while tolerating weak professional capacity at home.
Merit must also extend beyond recruitment. Officers need relevant training, clear responsibilities and measurable outcomes; promotions should reward achievement, and poor performance should have consequences. The ministry’s own policy provides for training before overseas deployment, an acknowledgement that selection and preparation belong together. The same seriousness should shape the wider commercial establishment, from headquarters to missions abroad. Otherwise, public money will continue to support structures whose contribution to exports and investment is difficult to measure.
Nor is this exclusively a commerce ministry problem. Transparent recruitment and advancement should have been standard across government long ago. Every department pays a price when capable people are passed over and connections become a substitute for qualifications. The larger cost is borne by citizens and businesses forced to navigate institutions that are slow to adapt and difficult to hold accountable.
The ministry deserves credit for moving in the right direction, however late. The real achievement will come when merit is extended across its ranks and eventually becomes unremarkable throughout government. For now, it seems Pakistan has finally found a place for merit in its overseas missions. One hopes it will soon find permanent accommodation at home.
Copyright Business Recorder, 2026