FPCCI urges removal of TDAP chief on poor performance

PESHAWAR: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has urged the prime minister to remove the chief executive officer of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) for poor performance.

In September 2013, the International Monetary Fund (IMF) had estimated Pakistan’s exports to peak at $31 billion by June 2016 from that year’s level of $24.5 billion. Exports actually fell to just $20.8 billion by June 2016.

FPCCI Vice President Riaz Khattak said that Pakistan is facing several ecnomic issues and falling exports is one of the main headache for the government, which needs to be addressed with the help of competent people in the TDAP who at least made viable export promotion policies to promote pakistani products in the potential markets.

TDAP is the main body, which organises international trade exhibitions and expos in Pakistan and around the world to explore new markets for local products, he added.

The incumbent TDAP chief executive has no vision how to take up the things in the current sceanio. “The competency of incharge is always jduge when the path is diffcult, in easy path every lay man may perform better.”

So far, the TDAP CEO has bypass the Ministry of Commerce and directly made linkages with the high ups to intervene in his vested interests; Khattak claimed.

He also said the commerce minister is also not happy with the performance of the TDAP CEO. Revamping of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan has become a distant dream though the Commerce Ministry has decided to shift the TDAP's head office to Islamabad from Karachi, but TDAP CEO SM Muneer is still resisting the decision of the ministry.

The FPCCI leader also said, “We must understand [that] exports of any country are considered as one of the main sources of its economy, a vital source of earning foreign exchange.”

"Exports play an important role in the economy, influencing the level of economic growth and employment. However, when we look at the performance of Pakistan’s exports, we observe a declining trend.”

“On the other hand, those developing countries that also started their development process at the same time as Pakistan, are far ahead of us,” he added.

Apart from poor performance, other reasons were also behind this poor performance, ie, energy crisis, the tariff policy and a tight monetary policy.

These factors spoil the export competitiveness. Now, to strengthen and stimulating exports, the government must take measures such as reviving zero rating of exports, release funds to exporters and also need to overcome the energy crisis.

Khattak also demanded the government to improve the regional trade agreement and it should avail of the opportunity of Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) plus status. It’s time the government should also take necessary steps to reduce energy shortages and export allowances should be given to the Export Processing Zones. “These are the earliest measure that should be taken in order to minimise the negative impact of external debt on export performance in the country,” he added.