BY: FT Correspondent:
ISLAMABAD — Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has reiterated the government’s commitment to facilitating the business community, promoting trade and reducing unnecessary delays and costs to boost exports.
Chairing the first meeting of the Trade Facilitation Board, the Prime Minister directed all relevant institutions at major ports to provide one-window facilities to the business community and promote joint inspections and profiling.
He ordered a comprehensive audit of all non-tariff measures to remove unnecessary barriers to trade and directed effective steps to bring direct shipping lines to Pakistani ports to facilitate faster movement of products from local factories to global buyers.
The Prime Minister also directed the preparation of a National Trade Performance Index covering key indicators including cargo dwell time, customs clearance, logistics, ship clearance time, post-clearance audit and pre-clearance.
Special measures were also ordered to increase the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises (SMEs) in trade, with their trade journey to be mapped to identify and address barriers at different stages.
The meeting stressed strengthening the risk management system and using artificial intelligence to speed up cargo clearance. The Prime Minister directed that detailed examination should focus only on high-risk cargo, while controls should be extended from the pre-arrival to post-release stages.
The meeting was briefed that targets had been set for 30 percent pre-arrival clearance, increasing the green channel share to 65 percent and raising the number of Authorized Economic Operators to more than 50 by the end of the current fiscal year.
The Prime Minister approved the targets for the Time Release Automated System for all ports and also approved a working group to review non-tariff measures. The group was directed to submit a roadmap within one month for eliminating unnecessary regulations and facilitating trade.
Federal Ministers Rana Tanveer Hussain, Azam Nazeer Tarar, Junaid Anwar Chaudhry, Prime Minister’s Adviser Haroon Akhtar Khan, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani and members of the Trade Facilitation Board attended the meeting.
