Hurdles to be removed in way of growth, says Fahim

KARACHI: The government is fully determined to overcome economic difficulties faced by the country and remove the irritants hampering growth in exports, stated Federal Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim, while addressing the 61st Advisory Council meeting on trade policy on Tuesday.

“Pakistan, being part of the global trading system, was no exception to the impact of supply shocks, soaring oil, food and other commodity prices and turmoil in the international market,” he said.

Last year, the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) was announced for three years, which was aimed at enhancing competitiveness and ensuring sustained export growth, he said.

Procedures and regulatory changes in the trade policy had been incorporated through import and export policy orders, he said. Other initiatives involving financial outlay had been slow to take off due to budgetary constraints, the minister added.

Fahim assured the business community that the strategy would be to continue to attract Foreign Direct Investment (FDI), reduce cost of doing business and generate economic activities.

In the end, the secretary commerce said that some initiatives were not implemented because of financial constraints.

Published in The Express Tribune, June 23^rd, 2010.