Govt to help achieve $1bn surgical goods export target: minister

LAHORE : Provincial Minister of Industry, Trade, and Energy SM Tanveer held a meeting with a delegation of the Surgical Instruments Manufacturers Association (SIMA) at the Tevta Secretariat on Friday.

The delegation led by Chairman Council for Surgical Instruments Yusuf Hasan Bajwa discussed various important matters, including the establishment of a surgical city in Sialkot, boosting surgical instrument exports, and taxation issues. The delegation emphasised the need for the association to be included in the planning process concerning the surgical industry.

Highlighting the tremendous potential for increasing surgical instrument exports, the minister said that the government was committed to collaborate with the association to achieve an annual export target of one billion dollars for surgical goods.

He also issued directives to expedite the implementation of the surgical city project in Sialkot and announced the construction of a state-of-the-art laboratory dedicated to surgical instruments in the same city.

Stressing the urgency of the lab project, he assured that it would be completed on a priority basis. Additionally, he pledged to approach the federal government to address the tax-related challenges faced by the surgical industry.

Various prominent figures, including the Additional Secretary (Industries), COO Tevta, Deputy MD PSIC, Senior Economic Adviser Javed Iqbal, Director PBIT and others attended the meeting.