Islamabad: In an important review meeting chaired by Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif, major decisions were taken regarding the promotion of domestic exports, the most prominent of which is the immediate abolition of the Export Development Surcharge imposed on exports.
The important meeting was called to review the recommendations of the sub-working group established to increase exports, in which the Prime Minister gave clear instructions to immediately remove any unnecessary financial burden on the export sector and create a conducive business environment.
On this occasion, the Prime Minister also issued instructions for a third-party audit of the Export Development Fund for the last five years in accordance with international standards, so as to examine the extent to which the resources of this fund were used transparently.
He said that the sole purpose of this fund is to promote domestic exports, modern research, development activities, training the export sector workforce, and providing world-class facilities, so spending it on unrelated projects would not be acceptable under any circumstances.
Shahbaz Sharif further directed that for the effective and transparent use of the Export Development Fund, a suitable chairman should be selected from the private sector, who truly understands the needs of the export sector and can bring reforms in line with global standards.
Similarly, an impartial audit should be conducted of all programs and schemes under the fund to ensure transparency in every sector.
During the meeting, the Prime Minister also issued instructions for a detailed review of the role of TDAP and its restructuring, so as to improve the effective advertising and promotion of Pakistani products at the global level.
He said that the federal government has the primary responsibility for the promotion and marketing of Pakistan’s export goods worldwide, and for this purpose, all possible facilities should be provided to industrialists immediately.
The working group presented its recommendations in the meeting, on which the Prime Minister appreciated the group’s performance and directed that the responsible institutions ensure immediate implementation of these recommendations. The important meeting was attended by Federal Ministers Ahsan Iqbal, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Jam Kamal, Dr Mosaddiq Malik, Ali Pervaiz Malik, Minister of State for Finance Azhar Bilal Kayani, Chairman SIFC, and other senior government officials.
