Iftikhar Ahmad Chairman Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts & Accessories Manufacturers along with Sr. Vice Chairman Muhammad Ashraf Sheikh held meeting with Federal Secretary for Commerce in a very cordial atmosphere at Islamabad the other day. A well prepared team of Ministry officers supported Secretary Commerce In the meeting.
Iftikhar Ahmad appraised Secretary Commerce that PAAPAM was the major opponent of used car’s liberal import policy on the apprehensions that this will open up flood gates of used auto parts import, which has now come to pass. It is common knowledge that the Personal Baggage, Gift & Transfer of Residence Schemes, that were meant to facilitate overseas Pakistanis, have been grossly misused and circumvented to undertake de-facto commercial import of used cars by unscrupulous dealers on passports of overseas Pakistanis. Now these elements are pressing Ministry of Commerce for making soft policy on import of used auto parts which will be drastic for auto industry.
Sr. Vice Chairman requested for induction of PAAPAM representatives in Export Development Fund Committee to meet their long outstanding demand. He also draw the attention of Secretary Commerce to mechanism of ‘mid-term policy review’ built in the ADP 2016-21 document and sought help for its review.
Iftikhar Ahmad pointed out that PAAPAM has serious concerns on the government’s proposal to include the Auto Sector in Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) with Turkey, Thailand & other countries. The Auto Development Policy (ADP), issued by ECC on 21st March, 2016, is the sole authentic document that governs the future policy for the auto sector. Including auto sector in any FTA would discredit the Government and scare away massive investments in the pipeline. Firstly, for localized parts, offering concessionary customs duties in the FTAs is incomprehensible, as it would shut down the entire Auto Parts Industry. Secondly, for non-localized CKD parts, FTA duties would deprive the exchequer of huge sums of tax revenues and also eliminate the potential of future localization of CKD parts.
Iftikhar Ahmad also took the issue of Regulatory Duties & Anti-Dumping Duties on steel products and requested that all imports of raw materials by the auto parts industry under SRO 655(I)/2006 be exempted from levy of Regulatory Duty under SRO 1035(I)/2017 in view of rising prices of steel products in international market. Federal Secretary assured PAAPAM delegation for sympathetic consideration of the issues related to auto industry.
