Federal Cabinet says ‘No’ to ECC’s suggestion of importing sugar, cotton from India

The Federal Cabinet meeting headed by Prime Minister Imran Khan, on Thursday has rejected a proposal by the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) to allow the import of sugar and cotton from India.

According to the details, the meeting of the Federal Cabinet is in progress to discuss the overall political and economic situation of the country.

The meeting rejected the suggestion by ECC to import sugar and cotton from India. As per reports, the Cabinet has expressed reservations over the decision of the Economic Coordination Committee and the members agreed on the point that in the current context of relations with India, it would not be a positive development to import these items.

Following the rejection of the summary by the Cabinet, the Prime Minister directed the concerned authorities to intensify efforts to import sugar and cotton from other countries at reasonable prices.

The Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) on Wednesday has approved the import of sugar, cotton and yarn from India.

ECC of the Cabinet on Wednesday took up two summaries of the commerce and textile ministry to lift ban on import of cotton, cotton yarn and white sugar from India.

Textile Division summary sought permission from the ECC to lift the ban on the import of cotton and cotton yarn from India in a bid to bridge raw material shortfall for the value-added textile sector.

In another summary of the commerce ministry also sought permission to allow the import of white sugar from India through the Trading Corporation of Pakistan and commercial importers. In the meeting, it was decided to import up to 500,000 metric tons of sugar from India. In addition to this, various supplementary grants were also approved in the ECC meeting.

Let it be known that the Prime Minister presided over the meeting through a video link. The meeting took up 22 point agenda relating to development projects. The situation in wake of rising cases of coronavirus in the country was also discussed.