Advisor to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industry, Production and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood while addressing a ceremony in Lahore Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that ‘Made-in-Pakistan’ products would be promoted and made a buzzword to strengthen manufacturing sector. He said all efforts would be made to make this slogan a reality. Unless and until manufacturing sector and exports are strengthened, economy would not be able to achieve high growth rate. He assured that payment of refunds to the industries would be started from November this year and the FBR Chairman has given him commitment in this regard. He said that Pakistan needs export-driven growth strategy. “Even the United States cannot run without exports. Malaysia, Thailand and Bangladesh are flourishing through their exports,” he added.
Dawood will be visiting Japan in December with an aim to get duty-free access to the Japanese market. He said “My dream is to get exports back to $25 billion by the year 2019,”
The advisor said, and added that they have to promote export culture and tightening imports as they are a country importing too much. “We should focus on value-addition in agriculture instead of just exporting agri-products,” he added.
Prime Minister Imran Khan is visiting China from November 02 and a lot of development at economic front is expected. Up till now the Dawood has had five meetings with the Chinese Ambassador. He expressed his satisfaction on the fact that The Chinese Ambassador was very conscious about the trade gap between the two countries. In early October a Chinese ‘Buying’ delegation had also visited Pakistan.
LCCI President Almas Hyder said that alternative sources for power generation should be promoted to reduce burden on conventional sources. “We must have long-term investment tools that would also support industrialization,” he added.
