ISLAMABAD, Jun 11 (APP): Minister for Law and Parliamentary Affairs Senator Azam Nazeer Tarar on Tuesday said Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif had prioritized value addition of agriculture and livestock, information technology (IT) and human resource products to enhance exports of the country.
The minister was responding to a question of Senator Mohsin Aziz of Pakistan Tehreek-e-Insaf (PTI) regarding drop in the exports in the Senate.
Tarar said at present there were only two sources of foreign exchange, including exports and remittances whereas the third could be the foreign direct investment (FDI) and the government was making efforts to attract the FDI.
The Reko Diq project deal had been renegotiated for fetching the FDI, he added.
The minister said that the post-pandemic economic fallout led to decline in the exports. The highest ever recorded exports of $30 billion was not sufficient to meet the needs of 240 million people.
He said the prime minister had chaired a meeting for the revival of National Export Board. A preferential trade agreement was signed with Turkiye to explore the market for various export products, he added.
Moreover, the Middle East, Far East, European Union, China and the United Kingdom desks had been revived for effective strategies to boost exports, he said.
Senator Afnan ullah Khan of the Pakistan Muslim League-Nawaz corrected the mover that despite $30 billion exports in the specific year, the coutry’s import bill was $84 billion, with record trade deficit.
