- Sources say PM office hesitant to appoint CEO
ISLAMABAD: The vital posts at Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), an attached department of Ministry of Commerce, stay empty since March 2017.
Sources told Pakistan Today that the prime minister’s office is hesitant to give a nod for the appointment of TDAP chief executive officer (CEO) in spite of various directions of trade ministry in nine months.
Besides that, the board of Export Promotion Agency is deficient since April 2016, because of which numerous vital issues are pending for approval. Likewise, three DG rank positions are empty in light of the fact that no commerce and trade group officer is willing to go to Karachi.
By and large, more than 200 positions are empty in different scales. Sources added that keeping such essential seats empty for quite a while demonstrates the slack of the government to increase the exports.
Government appoints blue-eyed individuals for the slot of CEO, who works on 48 functions of the department including market research, promotional activities and innovative product development.
An official told Pakistan Today that the minister for commerce, and commerce secretary, are not sitting on this issue, which is the reason important seats are empty.
As mentioned in TDAP Act, Pakistan’s premier public sector export advancement office has 48 functions and yet the office is performing only three work promotional activities and innovative product development. The budget of TDAP is Rs1.13 billion for the current year, which will be devoured on trade-related events and employees’ salaries.
One senior officer of TDAP, on the condition of anonymity, said that if the commerce ministry fulfils these posts, then the working of the department could be better. No officer is interested to come to Karachi with the goal, which is the reason the positions are empty.
Commerce ministry authorities said that there is a dire need of shifting TDAP CEO and secretary office to Islamabad because every country’s export promotion organisation is located in the federal capital.
There is a visible absence of TDAP in the policy formulation as the ministry regularly invites them for in-house discussion on FTAs, STPF formulation and on other policy initiatives, but instead of meaningful input relating to exports enhancement, usually a junior officer is sent who does not contribute much on the issue and is mostly ill prepared, the authorities said.
In the fiscal year 2016-17, Pakistan’s exports stood at US $20.44 billion as compared to US $20.78 billion during the preceding year, reflecting a decrease of 1.63 per cent. Imports in the same period were recorded at US $53.02 billion as compared to US $44.68 billion last year, showing an increase of 18.68 per cent. This has led to an unprecedented trade deficit of US $32.4 billion.
Experts have recognised various issues which are behind an unfaltering decrease in exports. A standout amongst the most vital reasons for this decay is the poor execution of TDAP.
Former senator Ghulam Ali said that previous CEO SM Munir sent some individuals abroad for trade-related events, which was the reason exports had not increased during this period.
“On his appointment as TDAP CEO, we were thinking that the exports would be expanded, yet he [SM Munir] utilised the office of CEO for federation politics,” he added.
Several attempts were made to contact Minister for Commerce Pervaiz Malik but he was not available for comment, as he was busy somewhere.
