SIALKOT: Sialkot Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Majid Raza Bhutta has urged the government to take steps for setting up support industry in the country.
Talking to APP on Sunday, he said that export sector of the country heavily relied on the import of raw materials, especially from China for further value addition and re-exports.
Pakistan has seen many industrial surges where industries were established, but no work has ever been done to invest in the support industry to complement the existing manufacturing setup of the country, he added.
The SCCI president suggested that the government should encourage foreign and local investors enabling them to invest in support industry, like accessories of textile and clothing, printing and packaging, etching and polishing chemicals used in surgical instruments industry and others.
He said that the government should adopt measures for setting up EXIM Bank (Export Import Bank of Pakistan) on a priority basis to facilitate the export sector of the country in terms of financing and other related issues.
He underscored the need for identification high priority sectors and potential sectors for bringing a boom in the exports of the country. The government should take drastic steps for providing special incentives to encourage the export of respective sectors, he said.
He suggested that the government should take initiatives for setting up sector specific Export Promotion Councils in the country. The proposed councils should be established for the entire export sector to enhance their exports and these councils should work under commerce ministry for the betterment of the export industry, he added.
The commerce ministry, in collaboration with Pakistan Standards and Quality Control Authority, should introduce standards and ensure compliance of local vendor industry supplying raw material to export sector of the country, he added.
There was great need of setting up a Marketing Intelligence Cell at Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) for providing assistance to the manufacturers and exporters in obtaining information pertaining to international demands for commodities, competitive price index, expanding markets and other essential trends, he said.
Majid proposed that the government should provide interest-free loans on a 10 per cent interest rate for import of new technology and enable exporters to upgrade their industrial units for enhancing production inefficiencies.
