ISLAMABAD: Former Governor Punjab Chaudhry Sarwar said that he had played an active role in getting GSP plus scheme from European Union for Pakistan and he is still working hard to get an extension of this scheme for Pakistan.

He said that Pakistan would hopefully get EU GSP Plus facility for next ten years. However, he said that Bangladesh had increased its exports by five times with GSP plus scheme of EU, while Pakistan could not take full advantage of this facility.

He emphasised that business community sector should try to take full advantage of this facility in order to enhance exports to EU countries. Addressing business community during his visit to Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) he said that exports and remittances combined had brought around 300 billion dollar to Pakistan in last five years, but even today we were forced to accept every condition of IMF for just 2 billion, which was  outcome of our inappropriate strategy.

He said that business community had key role in development of economy as it created jobs, promoted wealth creation and boosted tax revenue of country.

However about 20 departments are in pursuit of business community due to which doing business in Pakistan is difficult task. He said that many overseas Pakistanis had achieved great progress in various fields and if they were given better incentives and better protection in Pakistan, many of them were keen to invest in their home country.

He said that real estate sector had potential to discharge all debt of Pakistan, but they needed to be taken into confidence in that regard. He showed concerns over loss-making SOEs including PIA, Pakistan Steel Mills, Railways, DISCOS and circular debt of electricity and gas companies. He said that without solving these problems, recovery of economy was difficult task.

Ahsan Zafar Bakhtawari President Chamber said that all political parties should agree on charter of economy to steer country out of current crisis.

He said that seats should be reserved for business community in Parliament so that interests of business class and investors could be better protected in legislative process, which would improve our economy.

Faad Waheed senior Vice President said that timely financial decisions were very important for business community as delay in them disturbed business plans. Azharul Isalam Zafar, Vice President ICCI said that construction industry had an important role in economic revival of country. Zafar Bakhtavari, former President said that government spent about Rs 1,000 billion annually on loss-making SOEs, which increased government’s deficit.

Published in The Daily National Courier, March, 31 2023

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