ISLAMABAD, Jan 18 (APP):The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce was informed that the transit agreement has been reached with Uzbekistan and Tajikistan on Thursday.
The committee updated that Afghanistan has not signed an agreement. The meeting of the Senate Standing Committee on Commerce was held in Parliament House under the chairmanship of Senator Zeeshan Khanzada. Pakistan’s position is that Afghanistan should not charge a fee for transit trade.
In the meeting of the Standing Committee, serious concern was expressed over the increasing price of onion in the country. When the members of the committee recommended a ban on onion export, the Federal Secretary for Commerce Muhammad Sualeh Ahmad Faruqi said that they cannot impose a ban immediately in the context of price fluctuations. “We have increased the minimum export price of onion to $1200.
He said that the price of onion has not increased due to exports. In the meeting of the Standing Committee, review of the implementation of the recommendations of the Standing Committee during the last three years, Senator Zeeshan Khanzada, Senator Faisal Saleem Rehman, and Senator Muhammad Abdul Qadir introduced in the Senate meeting held on November 6, 2023, the amendment bill of imports and exports. 2023, In the committee meeting held on October 9, 2023, the UAE ban on meat imports from Pakistan was reviewed in detail.
In the meeting of the standing committee, the implementation of the recommendations given by the standing committee during the last three years was reviewed in detail. Secretary Commerce told the committee that on the recommendation of the standing committee, minerals, marble and fisheries sector have been included in the priority sectors. He also informed the standing committee about the assistance provided in various ways for these sectors including the co-sector, sub-sector, and road map.
The commerce secretary said that going towards value addition, which will lead to significant improvement, a plan will be drawn up along with the stalled industry in the next two to three weeks. A study is also being done to increase exports.
In the meeting of the Standing Committee, the ban on the export of fresh chilled meat from Pakistan by the United Arab Emirates, which was imposed due to fungus-infected meat in a container, was examined in detail.
Senator Dinesh Kumar said that the United Arab Emirates has banned the import of meat from Pakistan. This has given the country a lot of disrepute.
