Cabinet approves Strategic Trade Policy Framework

ISLAMABAD: The Federal Cabinet on Tuesday approved the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2020/25.

The STPF 2020/25 aims at enhancing the ability of Pakistani enterprises’ capacity to produce, distribute and sell products and services as or more efficiently than their competitors.

The following priority sectors have been identified under the framework after studying the international demand trends, on one hand, and the capacity and capabilities of different export sectors of Pakistan, on the other.

Under the policy, the traditional sectors included textiles and apparel; leather; surgical instruments; sports goods; carpets; rice; cutlery; pharmaceuticals; marble and minerals; processed food and beverages; footwear; gems and Jewellery; chemicals; meat and poultry; fruits and vegetables; seafood; and services sector with special focus on IT, transport, logistics and tourism.

The developmental sectors are engineering goods, including auto parts.

The main focus of the Strategic Trade Policy Framework will be geographical and product diversification, manufacturing cost reduction through tariff rationalisation, pursuit of regional connectivity and Look Africa Policy, enhancement of market access through FTA/PTA, facilitation of logistics and tracking under TIR and enhancement of regional connectivity for access to Central Asian Republics (CARs), Turkey and Iran, and further towards Europe and Russia.

The framework is dynamic in nature and will be subject to course correction based on constant monitoring and evaluation. There would be an institutionalised mechanism for robust monitoring and implementation of the STPF to minimise the policy implementation gaps, which have traditionally remained a weak link due to multi-organisational roles in the export ecosystem.

To oversee the implementation of STPF 2020/25, a cross functional National Export Development Board (NEDB) had already been constituted under the chairmanship of the prime minister, comprising senior public sector officials of the relevant organisations and private sector representatives.

Regular meetings of the NEDB are being held to ensure the implementation of various policy measures.