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The Senate's Special Committee (SSC) on WTO, which met under the
chairmanship of Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Federal Minister for Privatisation &
Investment here today urged the export oriented manufacturers to improve the
quality of their products to increase the country's exports and to meet the
challenges confronting Pakistan in the wake of W.T.O regime.
Addressing on this occasion Dr. Abdul Hafeez Shaikh Chairman of SSC said that
we need to prepare ourselves for the challenges in the globalize economy and
to create an environment for better interface between the related industries
and the government. Our industry should come up to international quality
standards to attain excellence to compete and market our products across the
world, he added.
The SSC members recommended that the export oriented items and the related
material should be exempted from GST and highlighted that during the WTO
regime the ILO conventions, labour laws, Intellectual Property Rights, WTO
Standardization and open competition needed to be taken into account.
The members noticed that though Pakistan's exports were growing but growth was
not being witnessed in some sectors of the industry while such industries have
tremendous potential of growth. The private sector should take initiative to
convince the world regarding the excellent quality of their products and to
search for new markets, they suggested.
Earlier, the representatives of Pakistan Carpet and Surgical manufactures and
exports Associations briefed the Committee and informed that the Surgical
Industry was exporting top quality equipments worth US $ 145 million per annum
to about 20 countries while this year the export of Carpets, a non quota item,
have so far earned US $ 185 million, which would ensure to meet the target of
US $ 220 million.
The SSC will now have briefings from the representatives of Pakistan National
Accreditation Council (PNAC), Pakistan Intellectual Property Rights
Organization (PIPRO) and Export Promotion Bureau in its next session.
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, State
Engineering Corporation, Pakistan Engineering Development Board, Pakistan
Automobile Motors Association and the Pharmaceutical Association who made
presentations on challenges confronting Pakistan's Engineering, Automobile,
Pharmaceutical industries, Sustainable Agriculture Action Group and various
experts in the wake of WTO regime and their solutions in its previous
meetings.
The members of the Special Committee include Senators Prof. Khurshid Ahmed,
Mushahid Hussain Syed, Mohammad Ishaq Dar, Nisar Ahmad Memon, Dr. Muhammad
Akbar Khawaja, Lt. Gen. Retd Javed Ashraf, Syed Dilawar Abbas, Muhammad Azam
Khan Swati,Miss. Anisa Zeb Tahirkheli, Waqar Ahmed Khan, Ilyas Ahmed Bilour,
Mir Muhammad Naseer Mengal, Muhammad Abbas Komaili, Dr. Shahzad Waseem, Mrs.
Roshan Khursheed Bharucha and Ch. Muhammad Anwar Bhinder.