ISLAMABAD: The Japan International Cooperation Agency (Jica) and the Medium Enterprises Development Authority (Smeda) have signed an agreement under which Jica will provide technical assistance to Pakistan’s auto parts manufacturing industry.
Industry sources said the government is suffering a loss of about $1,950 to $3,781 on import of each used car, translating into loss of over $68 million in the fiscal year 2013-14, as dealers are commercially importing used cars from Japan by submitting photocopies of unidentified passports at the time of clearing despite the fact that commercial import of used cars is totally banned under the import policy. The Customs is losing $ 3,781 on import of 1000cc used cars, $2,006 on 1300cc, $ 1,950 on 1500cc, and $2,065 on 1800cc used cars, respectively.
However, Smeda Chief Executive Officer Mohammad Alamgir Chaudhry and Jica Chief Representative in Pakistan Mitsuyoshi Kawasaki signed the agreement in this regard here. The Jica representative stated that the new project would help achieve higher results in auto part industry by ensuring implementation of the plan of actions, efficient use of existing resources and building trustful services delivery.