According to newspaper report, the government has approved the budgetary allocation of Rs 6 billion to implement the trade policy initiatives for 2015-16. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif has approved a three-year Strategic Trade Policy Framework after over a year of extensive deliberations with a majority of stakeholders in the public and private sectors. The main thrust of the policy is on export sector and an ambitious target has been set to enhance annual exports up to $35 billion in three years. Many economies in the world are heading fast towards economic development and the new policy framework has been devised keeping in view the modern trends in global market. The policymakers have consulted the chambers of commerce, industrial organizations, trade associations, academia and think tanks in the formulation of the framework. According to reports, the government has also tried to remove procedural and budgetary bottlenecks in the policy framework to achieve the target.
The government has identified four key areas of concern in the trade policy framework which include diversification of products, effective marketing strategy of the locally made value added goods, institutional development and steps to enhance trade volume. Another short-term strategy has also been devised under the policy framework to enhance exports and an amount of Rs2 billion has been set aside for the next four years. The country has bravely faced the challenges of terrorism, extremism, natural calamities, political and economic instability and now it is coming out of all kind of crises. As a matter of fact, economy is strongly linked with security and an army action against terrorists is heading toward its logical end. The present political leadership has the mandate to rule until 2018, but constitutional steps are required to ensure continuity of the present government policies no matter which political party comes to power in future. Various projects of vital importance have been launched which need to be protected.
It is hoped that the government will be able to devise and implement an effective trade policy to enhance the country’s exports which have considerably decreased for the last some time. Pakistan has vast potential to engage in joint ventures with other countries and for the purpose, business to business contact with foreign investors is a must. The trade policy must envisages tax relief for foreign investors as well as the government will have to go extra miles to deal with local investors. There is need to introduce fair and corruption free business culture at the government institutions to safeguard the interests of the business community.
