The National Priority Sectors Export Strategy (NPSES), which focuses on 10 priority sectors to achieve development in exports, was announced by the Ministry of Commerce on Friday.
The strategy is part of the Strategic Trade Policy Framework 2020-25, approved in November last year and identified 18 priority sectors with guidelines to develop sector-specific policy measures to promote their exports.
The NPSES focuses on 10 of the 18 STPF priority sectors, including engineering goods, leather, processed food and beverages, fruits and vegetables, meat and poultry, pharmaceuticals, software development and services, business process outsourcing, logistics and institutional coordination.
The Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), under the direction of which the individual export policies are created, works closely with industry leaders. The NPSES aspires to utilize Pakistan’s enormous untapped potential for trade and investment development in order to create and sustain a new cycle of export growth for Pakistan.
The NPSES is intended to increase the competitiveness of both developing and established export sectors, according to the documents. In order to boost trade’s contribution to economic development, it recognises that changes must be made and puts forth a prioritized five-year action-oriented framework.
The policy will make it easier for all Pakistani businesses to conduct business. By supporting emerging sectors, it will establish the necessary conditions for diversification. As the essential enablers for industry growth, logistics and institutional alignment have been given the greatest level of importance since without them, these objectives will only exist on paper.
With financial assistance from the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) of the UK government through the Revenue Mobilisation, Investment and Trade Programme (ReMIT), the International Trade Centre (ITC) is collaborating with the government of Pakistan to support the development of the NPSES.
Commerce Minister Naveed Qamar said that government has taken a series of initiatives to promote exports to achieve sustainable and inclusive economic growth, poverty reduction and improvement in the living standard of the people. “We will work with all stakeholders to use the opportunities that the NPSES provides in creating jobs and new opportunities for Pakistan,” he said.
British Acting High Commissioner Andrew Dalgleish said the FCDO was proud to support programmes like the ReMIT that focused on supporting Pakistan to strengthen institutional capacity for trade policy formulation and address trade barriers.
According to ITC Chief Trade Facilitation and Policy for Business Dr. Mohammad Saeed, the strategy and accompanying work plan, which are driven by quality and innovation, would increase the global presence of Pakistani goods from the priority areas.
