NTC to draft new competitive policy: minister

ISLAMABAD: National Tariff Commission (NTC) will draft a Competitiveness Policy that will propose measures to improve competitiveness of the domestic industry both in national and international markets.
Federal Minister for Commerce Engr Khurram Dastgir Khan said while chairing a meeting to review the performance of the renewed NTC under new law outlined the contours of Competitiveness Policy. He stated that the new policy would propose resource allocation to the most efficient of the industries to induce sophistication and high value-addition.
The policy will propose measures for compliance to the Sanitary and PhytoSanitary requirements (SPS) and Technical Barriers to Trade (TBT) to ensure that the Pakistani products reach the high-value-end markets of the developed world. The policy will enunciate regulatory framework to ensure that Pakistani imports and exports comply with the international SPS and TBT standards practiced in the world.
Competitiveness Policy will propose a package of incentives, protection and assistance to the industry using energy efficient inputs and products. To promote such practices in the domestic industry, drastic duty reduction will be proposed on the import of energy-efficient machinery.
The minister directed the NTC to conduct a comprehensive research to ascertain the sectors in which the preference for Pakistani products have been eroded due to the FTAs and bilateral trade agreements concluded by China in the recent years. He said that this information would be instrumental in securing a better trade deal with China and gaining further reduction in duties on Pakistani products in the second phase of Pak-China FTA.