A parliamentary panel on Thursday put on hold approval of a bill moved to give legal cover to Trade Development Authority and has asked for more information on the usefulness of the body.
The move came as a blow to the TDAP that has been working without any legal cover for last two years after Supreme Court of Pakistan had struck down the TDAP Ordinance in its historical judgment on the National Reconciliation Ordinance.
Headed by Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan of Pakistan Muslim League - Nawaz, the National Assembly Standing Committee on Commerce unanimously decided to postpone the approval. Yasmeen Rehman of the PPP also questioned the effectiveness of the TDAP.
Former president General Pervez Musharraf (retd) established the TDAP through an ordinance in 2006 replacing the Export Promotion Bureau. The TDAP was established to satisfy ego of the then Chairman EPB Tariq Ikram (first Chief Executive of TDAP) who wanted to have complete control over the entity, alleged Zafar Mahmood, the Secretary Commerce.
He said the ministry has not seen any improvement in work of the TDAP and the status of an “authority” is too big for a body solely setup for a promotional job. “Tariq Ikram wanted to control everything and the ministry opposes the move to establish the TDAP”, said Mahmood.
“The establishment of TDAP was not a matter of personal ego rather an effort to promote trade in the international market”, said Tairq Ikram while talking to The Express Tribune. He said the ministry wanted to retain control over funds and transfers and postings that was why it opposed the TDAP Bill.
A member of the committee told The Express Tribune that the committee has unanimously decided to seek input from the private sector about the effectiveness and relevance of the TDAP before it decides the fate of the entity. She added the panel raised concerns over the TDAP’s move to have benefits of both, civil servants and the employees of an authority. The member said the committee also wanted to know as to why the TDAP wanted to retain control of two important funds, Export Development Fund and Exports Marketing Development Fund, through the TDAP bill.
In other matters that came up for debate, prominent was the issue of commercial counsellors. One of the committee members was pushing the case of his son, currently deputed in Santiago, Chile, as commercial counsellor, to seek extension in his stay.
Nawab Ghani Talpur of the PPP said that Secretary Commerce was opposing the extension in services of two commercial counsellors. The matter came up during discussions on appointment of commercial counsellors abroad. Ghani Talpur son Shaharyar Talpur was appointed as commercial counsellor on December 29 2009 for a period of two years. His contract expired over a month ago but he has not been recalled.
Nawab Talpur also pushed for cancellation of the written test to be conducted on February 11 for the selection of 38 commercial counsellors for next two years.
The case of extension for Ayesha Saeed, daughter of Senator Gulshan Saeed of PML-Q was also discussed. Senator Saeed is also a member of Senate Standing Committee on Commerce. Ayesha Saeed had been appointed as Commercial Secretary in Brussels on February 15 2010 for a period of two years. Her contract is due to expire next week.
The Secretary Commerce briefed the standing committee that Islamabad High Court in its judgment in the case of appointment of commercial counsellors has directed the federal government to adopt transparent mechanism for selection.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 10th, 2012.
Correction: Chile had been misspelt in an earlier version of this article. The correction has been made.
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