ISLAMABAD – National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce and Textileson Tuesday stressed the need for evolving a comprehensive strategy toincrease the country’s external trade.
The Senate committee on commerce also sought a report from the FederalBoard of Revenue for resolving the issues of textile industry to promotegrowth and productivity of the industry.
The meeting was chaired by MNA Syed Naveed Qamar.
Secretary Commerce and Textile Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera briefed thecommittee on structural changes required to ensure effective role ofPakistan embassies abroad to promote trade, economic and InvestmentPartnership between Pakistan and other countries.
He also briefed the committee on steps taken to ensure that Pakistancontinue to benefit from GSP plus Status.
On the occasion, Secretary Commerce Sardar Ahmad Nawaz Sukhera said thegovernment had planned to explore the new potential market in all majorregions of the world.
He said, “We review the previous policies for appointment of trade officersin different countries of the world, adding according to the new policyquarterly review of the performance of trade officers was decided.”
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He said the performance and evaluation system for foreign trade officershad been evolved and 9 trade officers had been called back due toperformance issue and lack of capacity in different missions abroad.
Replying to a question regarding the recent appointment of foreign tradeofficers, he said, “We ensured transparency in process of appointment ofthese officials.”
Briefing on European Union (EU) Generalized Scheme of Preference (GSP-Plus),he said that as result of GSP- Plus, Pakistan’s exports to EU countrieshave increased from 6.87 billion Euro in 2013 to 9.22 billion Euro in 2018.
The committee unanimously confirmed the minutes of its previous meetingheld on August 16, 2019.
The meeting was attended by MNAs Syed Javed Ali Shah Jilani, Ms WajihaAkram, Mr. Ali khan Jadoon, Mr. Yaqoob Sheikh, Mr. Raza Nasrullah, Mr.Khurum Shehzad, Ms. Sajida Begum, Mrs. Farukh Khan,Mr. Rasheed Ahmed Khanand Mr. Usman Ibrahim, Secretary Commerce and senior officers of theministry of commerce.
