ISLAMABAD – The Board of Management of Engineering Development Board (EDB)has finally cleared the first draft of the mobile device policy forsubmission to the Ministry of Industries & Production.
On October 7, 2019, Prime Minister Advisor on Commerce, Industries andProduction and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood had announced that the mobiledevice policy will be announced in November 2019.
A Karachi-based company has already started the manufacturing of mobilesets but due to delayed decision and lobbying by the importers, the policyhas been delayed.
According to the EDB, the policy has been drafted after extensivestakeholder consultation with an objective to encourage local manufacturersin the sector through technology acquisition and localization.
Pakistan is the 7th largest market for Mobile Phoneslink with annual sales of 34 million in 2019.With increasing demand and competitive advantage of labor cost, it candevelop into a major industry capable to generate an export surplus to sellits brand of “Made in Pakistan” in the international market.
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The main purpose of the policy was to make the engineering sector one ofthe largest export-oriented sectors of Pakistan. This implies if the exportof the textile sector would cross the $12 billion benchmark within the next8-10 years then cell phone industry can contribute $500 million to $1billion in the export of engineering goods.
The proposed policy is expected to promote local investments and FDI. Localdevice manufacturing activity is projected to create 200,000 direct andindirect jobs in the country alongside the development of efficientmanufacturing eco-system and linking Pakistan to the global supply chain.
