SEZs to speed up economic growth and bring industrial transformation in Pakistan

(APP) – United Business Group (UBG) Central Chairman Iftikhar Ali Malik said on Thursday that the Special Economic Zones (SEZs) under the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) would bring industrial revolution in Pakistan.

He expressed these views while talking to a delegation of traders, and asserted it would also accelerate economic development besides attracting a great chunk of Foreign Direct Investment (FDI) which would help generating new job opportunities, according to a press release.

He said that Pakistan has become a profitable land to do business because of government’s tailored and well-consulted policies.

Iftikhar Malik said Allama Iqbal Industrial City of prioritised SEZ under CPEC was a game changer project in Punjab and foreign investment could steer the country out of prevailing economic crisis as the government under dynamic leadership of Prime Minister Imran Khan was trying its utmost to facilitate investors by taking steps for ease of doing business.

He said that the federal government has announced an excellent economic package for increasing economic activities while Punjab government has given new industrial policy which would help to revolutionise the industrial sector.

He said that the national economy and industrial sector were interlinked as the industrial growth helps in boosting the national economy.

He demanded the government to establish a Cottage Industrial Estate and a Trade Information Portal should also be launched to get trade related regulatory information on import-export which should connect the Pakistani business community to international markets.

He said that the cottage industry should also be housed in Industrial Estates of Punjab especially in FIEMDC in existing infrastructure or by acquiring additional land adjacent to the existing Industrial Estates.

Iftikhar Malik said new markets and new products were needed to be explored to reduce country’s dependence on few commodities and countries. “The leading export sectors of Pakistan have their own importance in terms of earning foreign exchange and employing a major chunk of indigenous resources but we cannot overlook these facts that the share of engineering products in total global trade is almost 60%.

It is high time that we have to re-allocate our resources ad attention to engineering sector,” he suggested. He also appreciated FIEDMC Chairman Mian Kashif Ashfaq for materialising the dream of ground breaking ceremony of Allama Iqbal Industrial City.

He also said that it was good thing that the FIEDMC was making efforts to provide necessary facilities to skilled workers and manufacturers besides announcing to start a process of imparting different technical and professional courses to the youth so that industrial sector could make further progress and job opportunities will be available to the people.