October 3, 2018: Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Industries, and Investment, Abdul Razzaq Daud has said that the government is focusing on promoting “Made in Pakistan” culture to foster the country's export and minimize the trade deficit.

For this purpose, level playing field would be provided to all Pakistani industrialists and businessmen along with the foreigners, he said during a Senate Standing Committee on Industries held with Senator Ahmed Khan as the head.

He said the country's trade deficit was proliferating largely due to de-industrialization, owing to ill-planning of the former governments to promote exports and industrialization as their main focus was on collecting revenues by increasing duties on import and export of goods.

He said that due to influx of imported items in the country, the import culture has been nurtured due to which exports continue to decline.

He believed that with increase in imports, only few traders along with their few workers would benefit whereas by promoting culture of exports, more industries will be established in which thousands of workers would benefit from additional job opportunities.

With the establishment of export oriented industries, not only exports of the country will increase and trade deficit will decrease but revenue will also increase, he added.

He further stated that the government has reversed the duty regime in the supplementary budget by decreasing duties on import of raw material and increasing duties on import of finished items to boost country's exports.

With regard to trade gap with China, he maintained that Pakistan currently imports goods worth of over US $15 billion while its export stands at $1.5 billion only, which has created a huge gap of trade between the two countries.

“We are in contact with the Chinese authorities to resolve this issue and asked them to buy at least $2 billion worth of goods from Pakistan during current fiscal year,” he added.

He further added that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) signed with China around three years ago was also not in the favor of Pakistan and needed to be changed.

He said that in order to increase exports of the country, the government was focusing on promoting engineering, chemicals, Information Technology, and agriculture sector along with conventional textile and leather sectors.

Rice exporters were also demanding support from the government to double the exports of rice from existing $2 billion to $4 billion, he added.

The meeting was also attended by Senators Naseebullah Bazai, Kalsoom Parveen, Anwar Lal Dean, Keshoo Bai, and Sitara Ayaz.

(APP)

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