Experts question govt capacity to benefit from SEZs

ISLAMABAD: Questions are being raised about Islamabad’s capacity to reap full benefits via special economic zones (SEZs) under the umbrella of the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), as 70 percent of the SEZs fail to yield positive results globally.

During the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) conference, Guntur Sugiyarto, principal economist of the Asian Development Bank (ADB) said keeping in view the international experience, SEZs failed to get the desired results by 70 percent. “And it was yet to see how much Islamabad could reap the benefits out of it.”

He said CPEC would connect China not just to Pakistan but to other eastern countries as well. “OBOR initiative comprises of six corridors, with CPEC as the flagship,” he said, adding CPEC was an opportunity for Pakistan to integrate with the Central Asian markets.

The government must ensure CPEC reaches its full potential and creates employment opportunities, Sugiyarto said.

Dr Sohail Malik said in another session on Thursday said the extension project in agriculture sector was used to arrange public meetings of the MNAs as there were severe capacity constraints that could only be solved through serious working.

“Only 20 percent big farmers produced more than their own requirements... so the support price and subsidy mechanism had nothing to do with 67 percent small farmers operating in this country,” he added.

The session on agriculture and climate change chaired by Dr Munir Ahmed, former joint director, PIDE, stressed the need for financial allocation for forestation, drought monitoring across agro-climatic zones of Pakistan, and relevance of institutional quality for agriculture.

The session also enlightened the listeners about new agricultural avenues enunciated under the CPEC projects of social and physical infrastructure.

The technical session dealing with exports, trade and industry was chaired by Dr Zafar Mahmood, from NUST.