Rice exporters urged the Governor Sindh Mohammad Zubair to fight their case with the government allowing incentive and to do away the restriction of shipments of rice on government to government basis to Indonesia, permitting companies to deal with their couter parts.

A high profile delegation of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) led by Mr. Rafique Suleman, Senior Vice Chairman had a meeting with H.E. Muhammad Zubair, Governor Sindh at Governor House, Karachi. During the meeting Haji Abdul Rauf Chappal, Jawed Jillani, Asif Polani, REAP’s Managing Committee Members along with Jawed Tar Muhammad, Anis Majeed and Nadeem Polani were also present.

Rafique Suleman apprised Hon Governor Sindh about the issues and problems being faced by Pakistani Rice Exporters. He urged that despite country 2nd largest earner of foreign exchange, rice export sector is not given the status of Industry. In addition, in the the recently announced export package by Government of Pakistan, there was no relief for rice export sector. He added that Pakistani rice exporters are putting their untiring efforts for the increase of export trade.

He further informed that  Indonesia only procure rice with Government to Government (G to G) basis, whereas other rice exporting countries have authorized their Export Associations to export rice to Indonesia on behalf of their Government.

“We had also requested Federal Commerce Minister to authorize REAP for rice export to Indonesia, as Pakistani rice has a good potential in Indonesia and approximately 300,000 Metric Tons of rice may be exported to Indonesia  which will fetch US$ 120 Million valuable foreign exchange for our beloved country, the statement said.

H.E. Muhammad Zubair, Governor Sindh has listened to the problems of rice exporters with interest and assured his full cooperation to resolve them. To accelerate the process for rice export to Indonesia, he assured that he will arrange a meeting of Federal Commerce Minister and REAP to finalize this important matter.