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ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has said that trade policies should be formulated with the main objective of facilitating the business sector.
The prime minister presided over a meeting related to the trade sector and emphasized on measures to promote exports of non-traditional goods and directed immediate payment of certified duty drawback of exporters.
Highlighting the importance of the private sector, he directed to ensure consultation with them during policy making and to implement the delete policy for the development of the auto sector.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif directed the ministry to devise a comprehensive strategy to check the performance of trade and investment officers posted in Pakistani missions abroad, reward good performers, and remove incompetent ones.
The Prime Minister told the meeting that he would personally review the export sectors every fortnight.
In the meeting, the Prime Minister was informed that negotiations on a free trade agreement between Pakistan and the Gulf states are in the final stage, and transit trade agreements with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan have already been completed.
It was informed in the meeting that during the recent Pak-Saudi Business Conference, around 450 business-to-business meetings were held and the volume of e-commerce trade is continuously increasing with the registration of more than 3000 firms on the Pakistan Trade Portal.
The meeting was also apprised of the strict monitoring of Afghan transit trade, double-digit premium growth of public sector insurance companies, finalization of gem export framework, and in-principle approval by Pakistan and Russia to facilitate barter trade.
Stakeholder consultations on preferential trade agreements with Azerbaijan and Afghanistan as well as a new strategic trade policy are ongoing. Further, necessary legislation is also being drafted to establish a Technology and Innovation Fund for industrial development.
Federal Ministers Jam Kamal Khan, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Dr. Mossadegh Malik, Ahad Khan Cheema, Deputy Chairman Planning Commission Jahanzeb Khan, Governor State Bank, and senior officers participated in the meeting.