SIALKOT, Pakistan: The Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan said on Monday that promotion of trade and exports was top priority of the Country as the government was successfully removing all the hurdles from smooth way of national economical stability.
While addressing a meeting of Sialkot business community at Pakistan Sports Goods Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PSGMEA) in Sialkot, the minister said that Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz (PML-N) government was making effective and positive efforts to boost country’s trade and exports by taking business community into confidence and ensuring the continuity of government’s effective economical, trade and export policies. He said that the government was well aware of the business community’s problems and making strenuous efforts to resolve them amicably..
Khurram Dastgir said that all commercial consulars have been appointed in foreign missions of Pakistan purely on merit with special tasks to improve their performance for facilitating Pakistani exporters. He also sought the regular feedback from Sialkot exporters about performance of the Pakistan commercial consulars abroad.
The minister announced to facilitate Sialkot exporters at maximum level for arranging foreign trade delegation, besides encouraging them to participate in all the international trade fairs and exhibitions including International Trade Fair to be held in January 2018 in Munich-Germany.
The federal minister said that the government has made Pakistan a peaceful, prosperous and economically stable country by ensuring peace in Karachi and eliminating terrorism, saying that this indicated the success story of PML-N government’s positive economic policies which have put the Country on way to economic and political stability. Today, he added, Pakistan is more peaceful, economically stable, prosperous and enlightened as government is successfully reducing energy crisis.
Khurram Dastgir said that the government would soon organize awareness-raising seminars on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) project in all the main industrial cities, asserting that grand project of CPEC was opening the possibilities of promotion and strengthening mutual trade ties and business activities between businessmen of Pakistan and China.
The minister said that government was providing uninterrupted electricity to the industry, and pledged to provide further cheap electricity to them with completion of several new power generation projects. He said that the government is implementing its top agenda of economic growth under dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif.
The commerce minister said that Pakistan was negotiating with Ali Baba business company and discussing with the concerned officials to reduce the registration fees for the Sialkot businessmen.
Khurram Dastgir said that the government was also making all out sincere efforts to bring international PayPal and other payment gateways to Pakistan very soon, saying that international payment gateway PayPal will start its regular services in Pakistan very soon, as the necessary legislation was being made here under the supervision of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). He also pledged to provide advanced drugs checking scanners to all dry ports in the country, adding that government is taking a very lenient view for exporters and export sector.
The minister narrated that the government was also upgrading and updating the old manufacturing technology to flourish and boost export-oriented industries of Sialkot on modern lines as well.
The Central Chairman of Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) Ejaz A. Khokhar, PSGMEA Chairman Khurram Aslam, Chairman Sialkot International Airport Limited (SIAL) Malik Muhammad Ashraf, Chairman Sialkot Dry Port Trust (SDPT) Muhammad Haneef Khan, Sialkot business community’s leader Riaz Ud Din Sheikh, former SCCI President Khawar Anwar Khawaja, Haji Aftab Barlas (former SVP of FPCCI) and Professor Safdar Sandal were also present.
