Businessmen call for GSP Plus extension

Insist it enhances job opportunities, boosts foreign exchange reserves

Businessmen have urged the government to start making efforts for extension in the European Union’s Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus status as it plays a great role in enhancing Pakistan’s exports.

In a joint statement, Employers’ Federation of Pakistan (EFP) and Pakistan Readymade Garments Manufacturers and Exporters Association (PRGMEA) requested Prime Minister Imran Khan and the ministries concerned to promote GSP Plus in order to enhance exports to the EU.

Officials of the two associations pointed out on Wednesday that the facility helped enhance employment opportunities as well as boost foreign exchange reserves of the country.

The two trade bodies have formed the EFP-PRGMEA GSP Plus Committee to push the government and others to act immediately to ensure that the EU continued to provide the GSP Plus facility to Pakistan for another 10 years, starting January 1, 2024.

“Interaction and communication with ambassadors of the EU bloc and other European countries should be initiated in this regard,” said Committee Convener Ijaz Khokhar. He underlined the need for direct advocacy and lobbying through visits to the EU headquarters in Brussels.

Khokhar also called for organising seminars in Karachi, Lahore, Faisalabad and Sialkot once a year in 2021, 2022 and 2023.

He suggested that research documents on GSP Plus should be prepared and manufacturers, workers and the government should be apprised of the imperatives of another decade with the facility. Talking to The Express Tribune, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) President Shariq Vohra stressed that the government should use its diplomatic relations to win extension in the GSP Plus status as it played a vital role in the country’s exports.

He was of the view that in addition to the export agreements with different countries, Pakistan needed to highlight its ability to produce exportable goods. “Pakistan’s exports have almost been stagnant for the past 20 years,” he said.

Vohra expressed concern that there were categories under the GSP Plus status which Pakistan never touched upon. “Pakistan has only five major export-focused sectors, which should increase to over 500, if it is really serious about ramping up exports,” he said.

Pakistan used to export cement but now it was exporting clinker, raw material for cement, which meant that it had regressed in the export arena, he pointed out.

He stressed the need for expanding the basket of exportable goods and demanded that the government announce incentives for other sectors in that regard. “Pakistan should also work on the export of services,” he said.

Published in The Express Tribune, October 1^st, 2020.

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