International Trade Centre chief says Pakistan has made 'enormous' progress

PM welcomes the international organisation’s executive director’s first visit

ISLAMABAD: Marking a historic moment for the country, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif welcomed the International Trade Centre (ITC) Executive Director Arancha Gonzalez on her first ever visit to the country and extended his gratitude for ITC's support, technical assistance and capacity-building projects

The premier on Thursday said Pakistan was looking forward to enhanced interaction with international organisations in order to adopt and implement best practices for increasing the country's share in global trade.

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Talking to Gonzalez, the prime minister said his government was devising a national e-commerce policy jointly with other federal ministers of finance, commerce and information technology.

Sharif observed that ITC's executive director’s visit follows the first-ever visit of the World Trade Organization (WTO) director general and this underscores Pakistan's commitment to participation in multilateral trade as a responsible, effective and positive member of the international community.

The prime minister informed the executive director of his government's efforts that stabilised Pakistan's economy, and was on its way to achieve further growth.

He also thanked Gonzalez for inaugurating the first-ever "She Trades" seminar in Pakistan, saying that his government was fully committed to the empowerment of women at the broadest level and enhancing their participation in international trade.

Gonzalez said Pakistan's economy has achieved stability and is receiving new investment in the country's infrastructure sector, especially roads and communication networks.

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The executive director appreciated the government's concrete steps which had reduced power shortages paving the way for ensuring enhanced economic activities.

"This is my first visit to Pakistan as executive director International Trade Centre and what I have seen is a country on the move, that has made enormous progress on stabilising the macro economic situation and improving the infrastructure," she said.

Gonzalez said she had a very cordial discussion with the prime minister and would support Pakistan in translating all this progress achieved at the hard infrastructure level into softer infrastructure progress in entrepreneurship.

"We will support in simplifying trade rules, in boosting the competitiveness of small and medium enterprises so that they could contribute strongly," she said.