The Korangi Association of Trade and Industry (Kati) President Zahid Saeed criticised the inordinate delay in announcing the trade policy framework and exporters’ package. He stated that “the uncertainty is creating problems for the country’s industry and the export sector.”
“Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif promised to announce the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) package within days when a Kati delegation met him on September 10, but our government is unable to understand the urgency,” Saeed added.
“Delays in taking decisions often cost the people and the economy heavily,” he was quoted as saying in a statement issued on Wednesday.
He compared the country’s $24 billion exports to Bangladesh’s $31 billion and Vietnam’s $97 billion and said the world would not wait for Pakistan to announce its trade policy.
“The top export category for both these economies is textiles. The world will not wait for us to announce the STPF. We are working in a highly competitive international environment, and our peers are occupying the available space in international trade each passing day, leaving little place for Pakistani companies.”
Saeed lamented that the industrial sector was facing multiple issues.
“Any proposed policy or package should give special treatment to sectors that employ many people,” he said.
Talking about Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan’s recent visit to Kati, he said that the association had proposed some ideas to the government to resolve the issues faced by different industrial estates in Karachi.
