Government to ask ECC to allow the Export of 1.5 million tons of Sugar in 2017-18

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi today chaired meeting of Council of Common Interests here at Prime Minister’s Office.

Discussing matters pertaining to Higher Education and other similar bodies in post 18th Constitutional Amendment, the meeting decided to constitute National Task Force on Education Standards in the country. The Task Force would look into the issues related to curriculum, medium of instruction etc., and would make recommendations for bringing uniformity and improving quality of education across the country.

Over the issue of import of Liquefied Natural Gas (LNG), the meeting decided that the concerns of the provinces would be sent to the concerned ministry and the issue would be discussed in the next meeting of the CCI alongwith views of the concerned ministry.

On the issue of provision of gas to localities/villages falling within 5 km radius of gas production fields, it was decided that all expenditures involved would be borne by the distribution companies. In case of province of Balochistan, provision of gas to the nearest tehsil headquarter or district headquarter, as the case may be, would be ensured.

The issue of Net hydel Profits was also discussed during the meeting. It was informed that the issue of the two provinces has been amicably resolved during the meeting with the Prime Minister.

Statistics Division gave a detailed presentation on the issue of third-party validation of the census results. It was decided that 1% random sampling of the census data would be enhanced to 5% and every effort would be made to complete the process within the shortest possible time.

Over the issue of export of surplus sugar, the meeting decided to recommend to the ECC to allow export of 1.5 MMT sugar during FY 2017-18. The existing subsidy level on the exports would continue.

The meeting also agreed to real-time monitoring of the electricity production, allocation to each DISCOs and duration of load-shedding by the provinces. Similar mechanism would be made available for the gas sector also.

On the issue of establishment of Fiscal Coordination Committee, the meeting decided that the existing committee constituted under NFC would be further mandated to ensure better coordination of the senior officials of Finance divisions of the provinces and the Federal Government in matters relating to fiscal consolidation.

In order to resolve issues relating to EOBI and Workers Welfare Fund in post 18th Constitutional Amendment scenario, the meeting decided to constitute a Sub-Committee comprising of Federal Minister for Overseas Pakistan and Human Resource Development, SAPM on Law, SAPM on Revenue, Provincial Labour Ministers, Finance Secretary, Provincial Labor Secretaries and Secretary Ministry of Overseas Pakistanis.

The meeting approved a proposal by the Ministry for Energy for amendment in Petroleum Exploration and Production Policy, 2012.

The CCI meeting also acceded to the request of Government of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa to grant one-time relaxation for the award of one new exploration block to each Provincial Holding Companies (PHC’s) without competitive bidding.

National Water Policy was also presented during the meeting. It was decided that a committee comprising of Chairman Planning Commission, Deputy Chairman Planning, Secretaries of Planning, Water and Energy divisions and provincial representatives be constituted for detailed scrutiny and analysis of the proposed policy.