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Export-oriented industrial policy by month-end

AMER SIAL

ISLAMABAD: New export-oriented industrial policy would be announced by end of April or early May. It would be 'open, transparent and consistent' as it is being formulated after detailed discussions with all the stakeholders.

This was stated by the Ministry of Industries and Production spokesman Ejaz Sharif Ghauri at a press conference here on Monday.

According to him sectoral committees, mostly headed by the private sector , are assisting in the upgradation of the policy.

Ghauri said that the focus in the new policy will be on textiles, chemical, engineering goods, automobiles, jute, surgical instrument, electronics, information technology, cement, food and beverages, mining and quarrying, leather and sports.

He said that a strong monitoring system will be an important feature of the new policy. But for this, over-capacities in certain sectors in the past would not have resulted in proliferation of sick industrial units in the country.

The spokesman said UNDP is assisting in setting up a monitoring system with a data-base on industrial activities. It would share information with the private sector and also with government departments concerned.

Ghauri said the government has already established Corporate and Industrial Restructuring Corporation CIRC for the revival of about 4,000 sick industrial units by solving their management and financial problems.

Another important feature of the new policy is to focus on small and medium enterprises for which, Smeda is already in place. He disclosed that an ordinance to give legal cover to Smeda will be enforced soon.

Smeda is preparing profiles of priority areas including fisheries, fruits and vegetables, marble, gems and jewelry, dairy and meat processing, livestock, light engineering, transport, leather and surgical instruments.

He said that the investment climate in the country has improved under the new government as in eight months of current fiscal $334 million have been invested in various projects.

The other important elements in the new policy are privatisation and downsizing or rightsising of the Ministry of Industries and its attached departments. He said the Privatisation Commission has so far privatised 61 units out of 101 units in the public sector, while still 41 are to be sold off. He said the ministry has identified privatisation of Pak-Arab Fertilizers, Pak-Saudi Fertilizer, Lyallpur Chemical and Fertilizer, Hazara Phosphate Fertilizer and Pak-American Fertilizer Limited on priority basis.

To a question, he said that these profitable units are being privatised to reduce burden on national exchequer and 90 percent of sale proceeds would go for the payment of debt and 10 percent on poverty alleviation programme.

Responding to a question abut the losses of the Utility Stores Corporation, Ghauri said that its accumulated losses amounted to Rs 919 million. Of this receivables on account of subsidy on flour, ghee and sugar amounted to Rs 537 million.

He added that a sub-committee of Public Accounts Committee has detected misappropriation embezzlement and financial irregularities of Rs 370 million. He said that inquiries have been completed and consolidated report has been sought from USC to take appropriate action against the guilty.

Speaking about TRIPS (trade related investment measures) and TRIPS (trade related intellectual property rights) under WTO, the spokesman said that under TRIPS, the government deletion policy would have to be abandoned by 2000.

Since engineering goods industry in Pakistan was in a nascent stage, the government has already moved for extension of the deadline from year 2000 to 2005. He said that the government is upgrading the laws relating to the protection of intellectual property rights according to the WTO agreement.

In its rightsizing drive, the Ministry of Industries has started the process of winding up of the corporations by inter-merging, massive restructuring is also under way in Pakistan Steel, he said. So far, he said, Ghee Corporation of Pakistan and Federal Chemical and Ceramic Corporation have been merged with National Fertilizer Corporation. State Petroleum, Refining and Petrochemical Corporation (Perac) merged with the PIDC.