Aug 20, 2019: Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce and Textile, Industries and Production and Investment on Tuesday said the government is focusing on higher exports through tariff rationalization for attracting trade related investment.

Undertaking institutional reform, documentation of economy and easing of doing business regulations was the priority of the incumbent government, he said this in a meeting with the delegation of the business community here.

Razak Dawood said “We are committed for introducing business reforms in Pakistan to boost its industrial and commercial potential, said a press release issued by Ministry of Commerce.

“Small and Medium Enterprises (SME) policy 2019 focuses on three most important aspects in development of SME’s in Pakistan, which are: Access to Credit, Access to Technology and Access to Markets” he added.

Advisor said growth in SME sector is essential as it generates employment in the country and meaningful structural reforms in SMEDA are being undertaken. Moreover, he also mentioned that government also realized that most of SME business is conducted off the books.

In order to streamline this sector he said documentation of these businesses will provide lot of benefits including increment in access to credit, Rzak said.

He said cost of doing business is also a key factor in performance of SME’s in Pakistan.

The adviser said that according to the World Bank (WB) report he said Pakistan has advanced 11 places to 136 th place on the ease of doing business global ranking. This year this ranking is set to improve furthermore.

He also said that the reforms of the past year covered the doing business areas of Starting a Business, Registering Property and Resolving Insolvency.

“At the National Level, the government has introduced various measures for enhancing trade and governance in Pakistan and duties on raw materials have been reduced, he said.

“We have conducted a thorough exercise in Tariff rationalization to support the local industries” he added.

He further underlined that Commerce division worked hard to gain international market access for Pakistani products. It is a great opportunity for the local industry to benefit from this.

Indonesia-Pakistan preferential trade agreement (PTA) offers immediate market access for 20 new products of Pakistan’s prime interest including mangoes, broken rice, ethanol, tobacco, yarn and fabric, home textile, terry towel, apparel and knitwear.

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