Trade Policy 2018-2023 To Be Formulated
Trade Policy 2018-2023 To Be Formulated: Trade is the important aspect of any country’s economy. To constitute a five year strategic trade policy framework 2018-2023, government of Pakistan has formulated a committee.
This would comprise of secretaries of commerce, finance and textile divisions, ministries of industries and production, national food security and research and Trade Development Authority of Pakistan, representatives from public and private sectors who will evaluate suggestions received from different stakeholders and finalize the formulation of trade policy framework.
The committee’s terms of reference is to recognize the importance of public and private sector collaboration for trade policy formulation and implementation with the understanding that the private sector is involved in trade across the border and better placed to inform the policy makers about the issues requiring government interventions through trade policy for their resolution.
Active involvement of stakeholders in policy design and implementation will augment ownership of the policies by stakeholders and will positively contribute to the achievement of declared targets.
Plan of Action of The Trade Committee
- The committee will identify relevant policy issues that would be addressed through public private dialogues
- Recognize the trade policy issues on which research would be undertaken and that can build more international trade
- Recommend research organizations and consultants to undertake research studies to eliminate the loopholes present in the existing trade setup and how it can be improved.
Previous Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2015-18
Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2015-18 had identified four main pillars as follows:
- Product sophistication and diversification (research and development, value addition, and branding)
- market access (enhancing share in existing markets, exploring new markets, trade diplomacy and regionalism)
- institutional development and strengthening (restructuring, capacity building, and new institutions)
- Trade facilitation (reducing cost of doing business, standardization, and regulatory measures)
The government should first clearly present what it did or did not achieve from the last policy before releasing the details of the latest STPF 2018-2023 with the reasons.