Govt working on boosting exports, says EPB DG

Staff Report

LAHORE: Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) Director General Naveed Akram Cheema on Wednesday said the government had embarked on an ambitious programme to enhance exports from Pakistan which would contribute to economic growth and development. He was addressing a seminar on ‘Basic Export Requirements’ at the Avari Hotel on Wednesday.

Mr Cheema said the EPB was making efforts to diversify export products and was looking for new markets for Pakistani exporters. “The EPB is trying to reduce dependency on a single product category and wants to increase the number of exporters in the country,” he added. He said the efforts of the government had started paying dividends as the country had recently crossed the $10 billion mark in exports. He said the president had set new targets for the board for the future.

The DG said the EPB was concentrating on the export of Core Product Categories like textiles, garments, rice, leather goods, sports equipment, carpets, surgical instruments and petroleum products. “Our developmental categories are information technology, marble, granite, fisheries, engineering goods, fruits, vegetables, chemicals, poultry, pharmaceuticals, jewellery and general services,” he said.

Mr Cheema said the EPB was considering Africa, Central Asian Republics, South America, Eastern Europe, Australia and New-Zealand as future destinations for Pakistani products. Talking about bilateral trade enhancement and leverage development, he said Pakistan would consider Europe, United States, SAARC, ASEAN, pan-Islamic and African countries for the purpose.

The EPB chief said the board had always been active in creating awareness in the business community on trade issues. He informed the participants at the seminar that the EPB had set up help desks in almost all of its offices whose job is to inform visitors and stakeholders on the basic requirements for exports. He said the newcomers and the small and medium enterprises still needed guidance on the various sources of information and how to utilise them.

The seminars covered a wide range of export-related topics including EPB services, export finances available in Pakistan, incentive for exporters, product development and export marketing and SWOT analysis.

EPB Communications Director (Karachi) Tallat Rahim said the EPB was providing incentives to exporters to increase the output of the country. She said the number of registered exporters had increased significantly during the last two years “and credit for this should go to the EPB”.

EPB Trade Finance Consultant Tahir Jamil Naqvi gave a presentation on export marketing. EPB Lahore Assistant Director Shahzad Ahmad Rana gave an elaborate presentation on SWOT analysis of leather and its products.

EPB Consultant KK Suri informed the participants about the government’s export incentive schemes including the DTRE scheme, duty drew-back schemes, common bonded warehouse scheme and freight subsidy scheme which were recently announced by the government.

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