‘Public-private competitiveness must to enhance exports’

PESHAWAR: Joint efforts from all government and private sector stakeholders were the need of the hour to redress the problems and issues being faced by Pakistani exporters. Their issues include constraints at the national and global level.

These were the views expressed by current, past and potential exporters during a roundtable meeting titled “Achieving Export Competiveness in Pakistan” held by the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) on Thursday.

Gonzalo J Varela, senior economist with the World Bank Group, delivered a technical presentation highlighting the importance of trade as a vehicle of growth in developing countries over the last 30 years.

He explained that the exports of goods and services in Pakistan and other developing countries had grown exponentially since the 1980s. However, he flagged the downturn in Pakistan’s export sector in recent years, which he attributed to the country’s inability to fully harness its trade potential.

In this regard, he stressed the need for effective policy initiatives to reduce tariffs and the cost-of-doing business to increase the competitiveness of Pakistani exports in international markets.

During the meeting, exporters and representatives of the manufacturing sector identified a number of areas currently affecting the competiveness of Pakistani exports.

Zahid Ullah Shinwari, president, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Chamber of Commerce and Industry, outlined issues related to  energy sector and highlighted the lack of product and market diversification, especially heavy reliance on the European market, within the Pakistani export sector. Adnan Jalil, former vice president of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), said the federal government was unwilling to engage with local stakeholders while formulating relevant policies. He also highlighted gaps within the taxation system as well as trade tariffs and called for an end to leakages in the form of corruption.

Experts from the public and private sectors on the occasion presented recommendations for corrective measures to the issues that were affecting the country’s export competitiveness.

Steering the discussion towards Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Sabir Shah, advisor at the KP Planning and Development Department, identified the different sectors in which the province enjoyed a comparative advantage.

He stressed the need for the provincial government to develop sectoral policies that promote investment, and added that such a set of policies would be finalised by the provincial Cabinet by the end of November.

He concluded that the federal government should consider strengthening the services export development strategy as an integral part of the broader strategic trade policy framework.

Speaking on the dynamics of export competitiveness in Pakistan, Dr Vaqar Ahmad, Deputy executive director at SDPI emphasised on Khyber Pakhtunkhwa’s vast potential in several sectors, including gems and precious stones, marbles, herbal and medicinal products, jewellery, dry fruits, meat products, and light engineering.

He urged the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan to ensure that the province’s business community participated in international trade delegations and exhibitions.

He also stressed the need for providing infrastructure and state-of-the-art facilities within the special economic zones established under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor in the province.

He emphasised the need for ensuring that future free trade agreements did not hurt local businesses in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa with high tariffs and duties on imports of raw material, machinery and intermediate inputs that were required by the exporting sectors.

He urged for serious thinking at the policy level to improve transit and trade relations with Afghanistan, stressing the need for providing missing border trade infrastructure particularly at Torkham. He concluded that illegal and informal trade should be curbed to help local businesses and to boost government revenues.