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The SENATE's Special Committee (SSC) on "CHALLENGES OF WTO" is supportive
towards strengthening public private partnership. The Federal Minister for
Privatisation & Investment Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh stated this while chairing
SSC on WTO meeting here today.
He said that there was a need to improve quality and standards of our
products much better than our competitors through bringing in efficiencies.
The process of consultations with all the stakeholders was aimed at to
incorporate the suggestions for applicable policies being devised to meet
the post WTO regime, he added.
The SSC members emphasized that before entering into the international
agreements including WTO the process of consultation with the local private
sector needed to be given priority.
Earlier, Dr. Akram Sheikh Chairman Pakistan Engineering Development Board gave
a detailed briefing on the Engineering Industry of Pakistan and said that tax
breaks, training of related workforce and scaling down utility cost could
enable the industry to survive and grow in the post WTO scenario. He suggested
that cutting down Rs. 450 billion wastages in the national economy would go a
long way in making Pakistani industry efficient and competitive.
More over anomalies in import tariff of CKD and spare parts for the automotive
industry need to be removed to help the local manufacturers. Responding to a
question about the recently signed SAFTA agreement he suggested that initially
a few products should be traded especially import of raw material for our
local industry.
Mr. Babar Mahmud Chaudhry, Chairman Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers
Association (PPMA) explained the difficulties being faced by pharma
manufacturers and briefed the SSC regarding the opportunities and threats to
the developing countries in the wake of WTO regime and submitted suggestions
including setting up of an WTO approved laboratory and permission to import
only those drugs which were registered by the five developed countries. He
stated that our policies had helped the multinational rather than the local
manufacturers.
The SSC had so far gathered proposals from the representatives of Federation
of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce & Industries (FPCCI), All Pakistan Textile
Mills Association (APTAMA), Food, Agriculture & Livestock sectors in its
previous meetings.The members of the SSC Senators Mushahid Hussain Syed, Lt.
Gen. Retd Javed Ashraf, Mr. Muhammad Abbas Komaili, Dr. Muhammad Akbar Khawaja,
Ch. Muhammad Anwar Bhinder and Iftikharullah Babar Secretary Committee
attended the meeting.