MoC inaugurates National Compliance Centre, first of its kind in Pakistan

ISLAMABAD: Federal Minister for Commerce Syed Naveed Qamar on Wednesday formally launched the country’s first ever National Compliance Centre (NCC), aimed to ensure international compliance requirements and facilitate the manufacturers and exporters.

Addressing the launching ceremony of the center, the minister reiterated the resolve of the government to accelerate efforts for promoting sustainable and inclusive development of the country.

In his address the minister said that Pakistan stood firm in its commitment to the United Nations as well as the international community for joining hands in their endeavors for promoting ethical supply chains, developing humane and discrimination free workplaces, replenishing and rejuvenating climate.

The NCC will act as a repository of all international compliance requirements and develop a user-friendly online database and other resources to assist businesses, industries, agricultural producers, public and private sector stakeholders, and other entities to understand and comply with international regulatory requirements, he added.

The NCC will have a federal-level office with provincial secretariats to ensure coordination at the national level as well as an organisational structure consisting of eight compliance clusters, and additional clusters may be established in the future as needed. 

The event was graced by Diplomats of various countries including the EU Mission, EU members states embassies, China, US, UK, Japan, Saudi Arabia, UAE, Azerbaijan, Uzbekistan and Kazakhstan.

A large number of notable industrialists, representatives from ILO, World Bank Group, Pakistan Regional Economic Integration Activity (PREIA) USAID, other development sector agencies and academia were also present.

Federal Ministers for Foreign Affairs, Interior Climate Change, Overseas Pakistani and Human, Resource Development, Human Rights, Industries and Production, Attorney General of Pakistan and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs were also present along with senior officials of these departments.

Chief Secretaries of the provinces, representatives from provincial departments of labour, industry, planning and development also attended the event online.

Secretary Commerce informed the audience that in a globalised integrated world, compliance and standardisation were crucial for export competitiveness. He urged the businesses to understand the compliance requirements of international markets and assured that the NCC will partner with them in the cause of promoting a culture of equitable growth and discrimination free workplace.

Gonzalo Varela, a world bank economist, spoke about enhanced potential for exports as a result of better compliance. 

Thomas Seiler, Deputy Head of EU Mission in Pakistan spoke about the relationship between UN conventions pertaining to Good Governance and Sustainable Development. He appreciated the idea of setting up NCC. He lauded the work done by Pakistan in implementation of conventions since the grant of GSP+ and mentioned that the EU looked forward to continuing working with the Government of Pakistan in this regard.