Due to non-compliance with international standards, hundreds of consignments of Pakistani mango and citrus are rejected every year. PHOTO: FILE
The government is committed to address issues faced by the agriculture sector through policy reform and the establishment of the Public Private Dialogue (PPD) mechanism by the European Union (EU) funded TRTA II programme is a useful platform, said Additional Secretary Ministry of Commerce Fazal Abbas Maken.
Maken, while addressing the inaugural session of PPD, said that he came to PPD to show the ministry of commerce’s commitment to the process. He underscored that agriculture is an important sector of the economy which has a ripple effect on other sectors of the economy. He emphasised that Ministry of Commerce has an interest in value addition of the agriculture sector and he would like to take the stakeholders on board on policy initiatives particularly in kinnow and mango sectors.
The TRTA II programme aims to enhance Pakistan’s export competitiveness. The programme has three main components where Component 1 is about trade policy capacity building and is implemented by the International Trade Centre (ITC).
Sajid Hussain, Director General at Pakistan Institute of Trade and Development (PITAD), highlighted his association with the TRTA II programme where he conducted five PPDs in association with ITC. He stated that he has visited the mango and kinnow fields, and the donors are doing a great job to address the issues faced by the sector but the problems are enormous and would need a lot of effort.
Bruno Valanzuolo, Chief Technical Advisor TRTA II programme, highlighted the importance of compliance with sanitary issues and international standards. He stressed that due to non-compliance with these standards, hundreds of consignments of Pakistani mango and citrus are rejected every year. He emphasised that business operators will have to come forward to work collaboratively with the government to address those issues. He highlighted that TRTA II programme will provide assistance to the stakeholders till the end of 2015.
Mohammad Owais Khan, Programme Officer ITC, welcomed the participants and highlighted the rationale, process and mechanism of the PPD. He highlighted the efforts undertaken under component 1 to strengthen the capacity of stakeholders on international trade issues and the institutionalisation of PPD mechanism. He informed that a public private dialogue steering committee has been established with the approval of Ministry of Commerce which steers the process of PPDs and attendant policy research. Khan urged the stakeholders to come up with their recommendations for policy reform and actively participate in the dialogue so that the real issues are captured and addressed.
Published in The Express Tribune, March 27th, 2014.
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