Sameer Nazir
KARACHI: The President, Lasbela Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI), Maqsood Ismail has demanded of the government to announce new Trade Policy without further delay. In a statement, Maqsood along with fomer President Yakoob H Karim, Trade and industrial policy is the need of the hour so that industrialists and exporters should ascertain the government priorities and sense of direction. They said that the inordinate delay in the announcement of industrial and trade policy framework and exporters’ package, the uncertainty looms large and 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 a few sometimes back but the government is unable to understand the urgency”. “Delays in taking decisions often cost the people and the economy heavily as industry is in real bad shape and particularly the export-oriented industry is struggling for survival”, Yakoob commented.
Comparing the country’s exports of $24 billion to Bangladesh’s $31 billion and Vietnam’s $97 billion, he said the world will not wait for Pakistan to announce its trade policy. “The top export category for both these economies is textile. The foreign buyers have made it clear to us that they would not wait for us to announce the STPF. We are working in a highly competitive international environment and any lethargy will cost us our market share. Even the textile exporters are not receiving enough orders from their loyal buyers to stay in the competition. He appealed to the PM to give a priority to the industrial sector and rescue the economy.
