Govt Urged To Formulate Engineering Exports Policy
Islamabad: Dawlance Pakistan Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Umar Ahsan Khan has suggested the government to announce a five-year export policy for the country’s engineering sector and offer incentives to increase the exports of non-traditional engineering goods.
Pakistan at present has a policy to deal only with the exports of textile and surgical goods.
“The government should introduce a five-year export policy to enhance the export volume of the country’s non-traditional engineering goods worth $10 to $12 billion,” Khan said during a press talk on Thursday.
He said that Dawlance Pakistan had exported 5,000 units of water dispensers to European Union (EU) and had rigorously competed with the products of China and other regional competitors. However, he lamented, there was no policy in place for this sector and to tap the full potential of exports.
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“If the government announces incentives in the new policy, we are hopeful to witness a major increase in exports of water dispensers,” he maintained.
The Dawlance chief urged the government to ensure a level-playing field and offer a business-friendly environment to the investors so as to attract investment in the country. “Although the corporate tax is 29pc, the total tax on the sector is more than 40pc in Pakistan…this has made the country’s exports uncompetitive in the region — China, Thailand, India and Bangladesh.”
He said prior to investing, the investors always study the tax environment of the place they intended to invest, adding “we have reservations on tax credit.”
Urging from the government to follow the ‘Turkish model’ to improve the quality of products, the Dawlance CEO said that the exports of Turkey were equal to Pakistani exports 20 years ago “but it improved the quality of products by implementing various programmes”.
“I will raise this matter in the business summit on Friday (tomorrow) that Pakistan should implement THE Turkish model to improve the quality of ITS products,” Khan stated.
Regarding the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Turkey, he said negotiations in this regard were underway for a long time and if the government signs FTA with Turkey, then it should ensure benefits to all sectors of the economy.