Saturday, 25 February, 2012profit.com.pk

‘SMEs showcasing products in int’l fairs willenhance exports’ Page 3

gMarble exports decline by 63pcg KESC causes $5 million lossto marble industry

KARACHI

GHULAM ABBAS

The marble industry in Karachi, which hasfaced huge losses due to the deterioratedlaw and order situation last year, has beenissued millions of rupees worth averagebills by Karachi Electric Supply Company(KESC), despite closure of the industry forover three months.

The industry which is already bearingfour to six hours of unscheduled poweroutages, has now forced to pay huge

amount KESC bills KESC despite closureof the whole industry for a couple ofmonths amidst sectarian clashed thatbroke out in the industrial area last year.

“Though the industries in Qasbacolony area, which remained a flash pointduring the violence erupted in the city lastyear making the whole industrial unitsdysfunctional, KESC has issued averagebills to the industrial units worth aroundRs200 million which are yet to be ad-justed,” Sanaullah Khan, Chairman AllPakistan Marble Mining, Processing andExport Industry told Profit on Friday.

Despite a repeated request made bythe industrial sector for adjustment of theunjustified bills, KESC was yet to rectifythe data causing huge losses to the crisisstricken marble industry.

“As we were told to submit the billsprior to adjust within the due dates, wehave faced extra expenditure of worth mil-lions,” he said.

The industry which has already madehuge losses during the last eight months isbeing forced to face further losses by KESCthrough inflated bills and hours long loadshedding, he alleged.

Besides that, supply of power to the af-fected area was also frequently disrupteddue to poor infrastructure of the companyand lack of maintenance.

Due to the power crisis during the lastcouple of months, the industry has beenpushed further towards at least $5 millionlosses as its total exports by December2011 have been recorded $17.2 millionagainst the $22 million registered during

the corresponding months of 2010.The prolonged power outages and de-

teriorated law and order situation in thecity have badly affected the export ofmarble which has declined by 63 per centduring the last seven months of the cur-rent financial year. The country has ex-ported marble worth $19 million againstthe target of $30 million during July toJanuary (2011-2012). The export ofhighly valued marble, under the presentsituation, was unlikely to meet even thereduced target of $60 million during thecurrent financial year.

According to exporters, the countrycould hardly export marble worth $35million to $40 million during the yearended June 2012 against the target whichhas already been reduced to $60 million

from $100 million, owing to the acuteelectricity crisis and poor law and ordersituation in Karachi. The other exportersof the product like China, India, etc, havegot an edge over Pakistani exportersowing to these inevitable circumstancesof frequent electric load-shedding andhigh cost of production. The sector wasnow losing valued export orders from thepotential foreign customers, which iscausing loss of precious foreign exchange.He also stressed that instead of makingshort term decision for meeting shortfallof electricity and energy conservation, theauthorities concerned should focus onpermanent solutions to get the countryrid of continued power crisis for smoothrunning of industrial units for the growthof industries.

LAHORE

IMRAN ADNAN

Ministry of Industry (MoI)has proposed 239 tariff linesto be included in the negativelist for trade with India,Profit has learnt.

An official documentmade available to Profitshows the ministry has pro-posed 12 items from the ce-ramics sector; four fromchemicals, six from cutlery,11 from domestic appliance,five from jewellery, six fromaluminium, nine from paperand paper board, two fromplastics, 98 from iron andsteel, seven from surgical, 21from sport goods, 36 fromauto sector, 13 from electri-cal, six from glass, one fromfootwear and two from ma-chinery, equipment andspare parts, which will be in-cluded in the negative list.MoI has recommended 72tariff lines should be ex-cluded as they have been rep-resented in the SAFTAsensitive list as five arebanned in Import PolicyOrder (IPO) and few of themare not manufactured locallywhich is why it is not mean-ingful to include them again.

The ministry is of theview that it is fully cognisantof the multiple benefit im-plicit in liberalisation, how-ever, in order for suchmeasures to succeed from thepoint of view of promotingthe growth of Pakistan’seconomy per second increas-ing over dwindling employ-ment rate, complimentarymeasures in terms of assuresupply of energy and mark-up at par with regional neigh-bours is a sine qua non. Theindustry needs a level playingfield, consistency and com-plementarities in all policiesto gain multiplier gains fromtrade openings.

The negative 636 itemsprepared by Ministry of Com-

merce (MoC) has been exam-ined and observations/sug-gestions are proposed on thebasis of parameters. MoC listalso contains 77 tariff linesand 16 agriculture tariff lines,which were not considered byMoI and they remained thesame.

MoI has adopted criteriafor negative list which in-cluded industry response(input), Pakistan Global Im-ports, and Indian Global Ex-ports for making the tarifflines. The tariff lines that areincluded in SAFTA SensitiveList will only be recom-mended for the negative listfor the very sensitive emerg-ing sectors. The items havingfive per cent tariff have gen-erally not been included asthe industry has requested toallow the raw material to beimported from India to cutdown on inputs costs.

Similarly, Ministry ofProduction (MoP) raises itsconcerns with ceramics, steeland iron for attention ofitems in the negative list andto phase out in the next fiveyears. MoP supports the re-tention of auto sector in neg-ative list as proposed bycommerce ministry.

An official of MoI saidthe tariff lines that were al-ready in positive list but re-quested by industry to beplace in the negative list havenot been analysed as per theprinciple decision of MoCthat the positive list will notbe altered and tariff lines willnot be shifted from it to thenegative list under prepara-tion. It was reiterated by MoCin the meetings that positivelist will not be altered, headded. The food/agricultureitems are included in thenegative list with exceptionof edible oils. Both the coun-tries import edible oils.Therefore, edible oil fromIndia is limited and shouldbe removed, he said.

Auction of 3G spectrum mustbe transparent,says Gilani

ISLAMABAD

NNI

Prime Minister Syed Yusuf Raza Gilanipresided over a meeting of AuctionSupervisory Committee (ASC) regardingauction of 3G spectrum and directed theproposed auction must ensuretransparency; professionalism and duevalidation and should be completed withinthe permissible time. Gilani saidintroduction of the new technology in thetelecom sector should enhance outreach ofthe connectivity facilities at an affordableprice to the consumers. In the meeting, theprogress regarding the auction of the 3Gspectrum was discussed in detail and it wasemphasised that the due bidding shouldtake precedence over all otherconsiderations which are in the interest ofall the stakeholders. In the meeting, theprocess conducted up till now wasappreciated for the professionalism andPakistan Telecommunication Authority(PTA) was asked to hire services of theinternationally reputed consultant to assistin the transaction process. The meetingwas attended by Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh,advisor to the Prime Minister on Finance,Mr Rehman Malik, Minister for Interior,Dr Asim Hussain, Advisor to PrimeMinister on Petroleum and NaturalResources, Syed Naveed Qamar, Ministerfor Water and Power, Secretary IT,Secretary Finance, Deputy ChairmanPlanning Commission, and representativesof telecom, PTA and FAB.

KESC ups the ante on marble industry bills

MoI proposes 239 tariff linesfor negative trade list with India

Page 3

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news02Saturday, 25 February, 2012

PESHAWAR

STAFF REPORT

Setting aside allegations regardingprivatisation of Bank Of Khyber(BOK), Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa gov-ernment made it clear that the lonefinancial institution is on improve-ment; therefore, there is no plan forits privatisation. “BOK in accordancewith the previous plan is going to saleout around 19 per cent of its share,”remarked Information MinisterMian Iftikhar Hussain and FinanceMinister Engineer Humayoon Khanduring a joint press conference hereon Friday. Provincial Finance Secre-tary Sahibzada Saeed and BOK Man-aging Director Bilal Mustafa bothtalked about the satisfactory per-formance of the bank.Couple of days back, BOK invitedbids for its share and in reaction, itsemployees and leaders of oppositionparties went on a protest, alleging

that Khyber Pukhtoonkhwa govern-ment is going for its privatisation.However, the provincial ministershave rejected such allegations, sayinghow is it possible for the present gov-

ernment to take such a decision?Advocating in favour of his point

of view, Finance Minister EngineerHumayoon Khan recalled that aftercoming into power the present gov-ernment had initiated steps for reac-

tivation of BOK. In this respect, thegovernment acquired a loan of Rs3billion from State Bank of Pakistan,which enabled BOK in becoming astable financial institution. Now

when the bank has become safe andstable, therefore, its managementhas decided to sell out its share. Hesaid change of management is part ofsuch bids, but it doesn’t mean thatgovernment is going to replace its

MD or go for shifting of BOK’s head-quarters from Peshawar to Karachi.Similarly, Humayoon Khan also re-called that during the previousMusharaf-MMA government, BOKwas not allowed by SBP to open itsbranches. But now the bank hasopened a number of branches in var-ious cities and towns of the country.Even now BOK is planning to openits branches in Kabul and Jalalabad.In response to a question, the provin-cial information ministers said nowKhyber Pukhtoonkhwa governmentowns 70 per cent of BOK shares.Whereas, the government has madea mind for further investment of Rs2billion, which could help in its fur-ther promotion. On such grounds,they said the government is going tosell its 19 per cent share. They calledupon BOK employees and leadersfrom opposition parties to be patientas the reports on privatisation ofBOK are all false.

Textile industry stakeholders agree on noTCP intervention LAHORE: A meeting of the textile industry ministry was heldon December 28 with the stakeholders of the cotton tradeindustry, including Karachi Cotton Association (KCA) andcotton exporters to agree on a no Trading Corporation ofPakistan (TCP) intervention in the free market mechanism.TCP, therefore, is not likely to intervene as the ministry wasconvinced by the participants. It may be noted that the proposalof PCGA for lifting of their remaining cotton stocks through TCPamidst falling prices was pending with the textile ministry. Theparticipants of the meeting argued that as of 15th December2011, as many as 11 million bales of cotton had arrived, whichwould further increase by 31st December 2011 to around 12.2million bales. They pointed out crop lifting data suggests that 95per cent of the cotton crop, estimated to be 12.58 million bales,would be out of the hands of the cotton farmers. Therefore, theintervention would not yield any benefit and if so, would benefitonly cotton hoarders. APTMA Chairman Mohsin Aziz cottonprices surged abnormally to $2.2 per kg last year, but APTMAdid not ask for government intervention for a single day andinstead fought for continuity of free market mechanism. Rightnow, he added, fall in cotton prices is a global phenomenon andAPTMA has nothing to do with tumbling cotton prices,therefore, PCGA’s propaganda of manipulating the market byAPTMA was baseless. It is not the manipulation, but thespeculation of a few ginners that had created fuss recently, hesaid. He added, TCP’s intervention, if inevitable in any caseshould be broad-based and APTMA should also be allowed tobid for TCP’s tender against 4.5 million stocks with industry atpresent. There should be an equal opportunity for everystakeholder to avail the opportunity at the cost of exchequer andno discrimination should be made by the government, heunderscored. He said the textile industry was passing throughsevere energy crisis and it would prefer to sell its stocks to TCPrather converting it into yarn on heavy losses. STAFF REPORT

LCCI appreciates formation of Pak-QatarJoint Investment CompanyLAHORE: Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI)on Friday appreciated the decision to form Pak-Qatar Joint In-vestment Company to cooperate in the fields of hydro powerand offshore as well as onshore oil/gas exploration and produc-tion. In a statement issued here, LCCI President Irfan QaiserSheikh, Senior Vice President Kashif Younis Meher and VicePresident Saeeda Nazar hoped that the formation of Joint In-vestment Company on energy projects would help strengthenbilateral ties by translating existing political and cultural rela-tions into commercial and economic interaction. LCCI office-bearers said cooperation between the two countries would go along way in solving the acute energy shortage being faced by thecountry for the last many years. They also hoped Qatar wouldextend maximum support to Pakistan in winning Free TradeAgreement with Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC). They said thedecision to activate Joint Business Council (JBC) would alsohelp promote interaction between business communities of thetwo countries. Meanwhile, LCCI office-bearers called for meas-ure of economic stability in the country to give positive messageto the international community that was now ready to make in-vestment in a number of sectors of Pakistan. They said LCCI wasready to extend support to the government in achieving the eco-nomic targets, provided it is taken on board for economic poli-cies formulation as it is the private sector only that could helpimplement policies in letter and spirit. STAFF REPORT

PSO chief unveils company’s future plans KARACHI: Naeem Yahya Mir, CEO Pakistan State Oil(PSO), unveiled his vision to a regional player in the next fouryears and one of the fortune 500 companies in next six years.Having recently taken over the reins at Pakistan State Oil(PSO), the nation’s leading oil marketing company, the newMD and CEO, Naeem Yahya Mir unveiled his vision for thestate owned company in a meeting with the seniormanagement. PSO CEO vowed to resolve all financial andoperational challenges and take the company to new heightsin the coming years. He apprised the senior cadre of his plansto make PSO the best company in Pakistan within the nexttwo years. Yahya Mir’s future plan entail exploring newmarkets, increasing POL sales using innovative ways,enhancement of retail network, expansion of the lubricantproduct range, improved product movement mechanism overthe coming years. As per his dream vision for the state ownedOMC, enhanced focus shall be on operational streamlining,cost reductions, minimising product losses, focus on cashsales, improved quality and quantity testing and . He alsoexhibited keen interest in joint ventures.Mir emphasised onteamwork to accomplish the outlined vision. He presented hisideas to improve the employee appraisal system which willnow focus on team results rather than individualperformance. He also stressed upon the need for technicalskill development and on-job training for the company’shuman capital. NNI

KP govt rejects allegation regarding BOK privitisation

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

Pakistan can

produce 60,000

MW of electricity

through coal in

order to meet

the demand for the next 100

years. these comments

were given by Governor

Punjab Latif khosa during a

meeting with the delegation

of save Water save Pakistan

Forum headed by Engr

Bashir a Malik, Former Chief

technical advisor of UnO

and World Bank at the

Governor House, Lahore.

Governor appreciated the

efforts of Engr Bashir a

Malik as Chairman of the

Forum to resolve water and

energy crisis in Pakistan and

the way out. He also

assured the delegation that

the government will take all

possible measures to

combat water and energy

crisis. Earlier, Engr Bashir a

Malik presented his proposal

to solve water and energy

crisis in Pakistan. He

informed 70 per cent

electricity is produced in all

countries of the world from

hydropower which is the

cheapest source of

generation and 30 per cent

from other sources.

Whereas, in Pakistan it is

the other way round, less

than 30 per cent is produced

from hydropower and more

than 70 per cent from other

resources. He also apprised

the governor that if the 5-

Dam Plan of the government

is not implemented by 2016,

including kalabagh dam,

then Pakistani people will

have to face severe food,

water and energy shortage

by 2025, when the

population will be increased

to more than 2200 millions.

Even if Pakistan is able to

build 200 small dams, they

would still not be equal to

the production of one large

kalabagh dam, he added.

Bashir Malik reiterated save

Water save Pakistan Forum

would continue to highlight

the importance of resolving

water and energy crisis

among the public and

government authorities.

Other members of the

delegation including

agricultural scientist Dr

Muhammad sadiq, Former

Chairman iRsa, Engr

shafqat Masood, Former

Managing Director, Pakistan

atomic Energy Commission

Foundation Engr Mansoor

ahmed, President tECH

society Engr abdul Majeed

khan and President tECH

Club Zubair sheikh also

talked on the topics of

alternate energy resources,

impact of water and energy

shortage on agriculture

and political compromises

by Pakistani leadership for

building water reservoirs

and dams. Engr Bashir a

Malik presented his

recently published book

titled, “save Water save

Pakistan” to sardar Latif

khosa, at the end of his

presentation.

Pak can produce 60,000MW of electricity throughcoal, says Latif Khosa

BOK invited bids for its share and inreaction, its employees and leadersof opposition parties went on aprotest, alleging that KhyberPukhtoonkhwa government isgoing for privatisation of the bank

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news

Saturday, 25 February, 2012

03Major Gainers

Company Open High Low Close Change TurnoverUniLever Pak Ltd. 5555.00 5695.00 5520.00 5647.44 92.44 513Nestle PakistanXD 3315.00 3365.00 3315.00 3359.39 44.39 156Attock PetroleumXD 432.20 453.81 431.01 453.22 21.02 278,405Millat Tractors Ltd. 475.60 497.00 478.20 495.51 19.91 136,400Island Textile 204.31 214.52 200.00 214.02 9.71 157

Major Losers

Dadex EternitXD 59.47 59.00 56.50 56.50 -2.97 4,752Habib Bank Ltd 125.17 127.75 121.65 122.56 -2.61 959,960Exide (PAK) 179.00 178.01 175.00 177.00 -2.00 8,115Rupali Polyester 32.22 32.15 30.61 30.64 -1.58 1,658Bestway Cement 15.88 14.96 14.88 14.93 -0.95 1,150

Volume Leaders

Jah.Sidd. Co. 10.37 10.87 10.20 10.50 0.13 24,801,229D.G.K.Cement 25.93 27.22 26.00 27.16 1.23 18,431,743Azgard Nine 7.45 7.80 7.10 7.21 -0.24 13,951,749B.O.Punjab 8.28 9.15 8.29 8.78 0.50 11,191,888Bank Al-Falah 13.84 14.35 13.82 14.27 0.43 7,947,766

Interbank RatesUS Dollar 90.8434UK Pound 143.5779Japanese Yen 1.1269Euro 121.6756

Buy Sell

US Dollar 90.50 91.00

Euro 120.95 122.30

Great Britain Pound 142.75 144.24

Japanese Yen 1.1139 1.1250

Canadian Dollar 89.91 91.48

Hong Kong Dollar 11.47 11.74

UAE Dirham 24.60 24.82

Saudi Riyal 24.10 24.29

Australian Dollar 96.15 98.71

KSE surging towards 13,800 point markKARACHI

JAVED MAHMOOD

IN 2011, Pakistan’s equitiesendured an uninspiring 2011as the benchmark KSE-100

index contracted by 5.6 per centwhile the average volumes plungedto their lowest in 13 years. Multi-plicity of issues dented investorconfidence throughout the year. JSResearch report, titled “2012 en-route to recovery”, has pointed outthis positive outlook on Friday.

Foreigners were leading bearsselling equities worth $126 million.However, 2012 started on an encour-aging note largely owing to changespromised in the CGT regime by thegovt. We expect this positive mo-mentum to withstand in 2012.

”We are anticipating a level of13,800 by the year-end based on

target prices of JS universe compa-nies, expected earnings growth andlocal bourse’s discount to the regionreducing to 40 per cent,” said thereport. Furthermore, given the pos-sibility of general elections thisyear, the question arises whetherthe market will sustain its uptrendor not. Looking back in history, theKSE-100 index during the last fourelection years has posted an aver-age gain of 40 per cent. Apart from2008 when the market declined by58 per cent owing to severe eco-nomic downturn, the local boursehas provided a robust return rang-ing from 31 per cent to 112 per cent.We flag MCB, UBL, POL, PPL PSO,HUBC, ENGRO, FFC, LUCK andDGKC as potential out performers.

Even after three years into theIMF programme, Pakistan’s macroteam is still implementing the re-

forms with a lag of 12 to 18months. This has resulted into anincomplete IMF program, higherdeficit and infrastructural bottle-necks. Although the government,thus far, has been unable to controlthe fiscal deficit however it has re-mained successful in containingthe subsidies. Push from the elec-tricity and tax reforms are muchawaited, which will eventually pro-vide a liquidity buffer to the privatesector. Additionally, debt repay-ments (mainly IMF) look like adaunting task especially in the ab-sence of FDIs and flows from theUS government.

Liquidity led woes have al-ready restrained the SBP to pro-vide further relief in the policy ratedespite lower growth, investmentand slower inflation. Moving for-ward, macro lifeline is heavily de-

pendent on the 3G/4G telecomauctions, reimbursement fromUSA under the coalition supportand Kerry-Lugar arrangement, andlower global oil prices in our view.To conclude, despite mountingchallenges, we believe the countryis no where near the 2008 crisis;however, there are challenges,which remain to be resolved.

The topsy-turvy political jour-ney of the ruling party (PPP) wasconfronted with awkward issuesdomestically and internationally.Issues’ pertaining to opposition’sresistance in implementing thenon-populist economic reforms(e.g. pass through of subsidiesand energy shortfalls) to tense re-lations with US because ofcounter- terrorism and geo-polit-ical issues proved an ordeal forthe government.

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

S EED Association of Pakistan (SAP)has developed a mechanism tomonitor uncertified, fake and mis-branded seed selling in the market.Under the newly developed mech-

anism, SAP has constituted a core group ofprofessionals from all the provinces tostudy the preliminary work done by thetechnical committee of SAP.

To safeguard the interests of farmingcommunity and dedicated seed companiesdoing legitimate seed business, it was alsodecided that the core group will formulate

a strategy and give its recommendationswithin the next couple of weeks to ap-proach the regulatory authorities to ad-dress the issue.

The decision was taken at the CentralExecutive Committee meeting of SAP heldhere on Friday under the chairmanship ofShahzad Ali Malik.

The participants noted with great con-cern that the presence of a well organised“seed mafia” which has been in operationfor the last few years, if remainedunchecked for quite some time, will con-tinue to damage the seed sector and di-rectly affect the entire agriculture sector inthe most adverse manner.

CORPORATE CORNERSchneider Electric launchestwo switchgear products

KARACHI: Schneider Electric, the globalspecialist in energy management, haslaunched two new world-class switchgearproducts, Blokset and Prisma iPM for thefirst time in Pakistan. Developed at theirstate-of-the-art plant located at Karachi,Schneider Electric becomes the firstcompany in the country to manufacture theIEC 61439 compliant LV Switchgear. Thelaunching of the two new ‘energy-saving’products is a significant breakthrough afterthe successful transfer of technology bySchneider Electric to Pakistan to meet thechallenges being faced here such asdevastating fire accidents inside buildings,commercial markets and industriallocations. Mr Mazhar Valjee, ManagingDirector, Schneider Electric Pakistan (Pvt)Ltd, stated, “Schneider Electric envisionsimmense potential in the Pakistan market togrow and evolve in areas of energy andenergy conservation.”

Nida Azwer introducesPretwear Collection 2012KARACHI: Nida Azwer will be bringingforth her Spring Summer PretwearCollection 2012 at an exhibition at herdesign studio in Karachi on Tuesday, 28thFebruary 2012. This will be a preview to thisseason's trends by the design house whichincludes A-line shirts, angrakhas, kurtas,peshwas and straight kurtas. This collectionalso includes signature and limited editionNida Azwer pieces based in fine qualityIndian fabric handpicked by the designer

herself from across India. PRESS RELEASE

Wi-tribe sponsorsdeaf cricket tournament

KARACHI: In an effort to continue buildingcommunity blocks, Wi-tribe Pakistan shares itslatest CSR initiative that is comprised of apartnership with the Islamabad Deaf CricketAssociation (IDCA). The IDCA will beparticipating in the 1st National Deaf CricketTournament, with 32 Deaf Cricket teamsrepresenting different cities throughoutPakistan. Wi-tribe is honored to be supportingthe team members’ uniforms, travel,accommodation and sports kits for two majorgaming events, among others. PRESS RELEASE

Wateen rallies forfreedom of expression LAHORE: Wateen Telecom is proud to present‘Wateen Scouts’, a revolutionary new youthmovement which went live this week onWateen’s Facebook page. Wateen Scouts is aplatform for the youth of Pakistan to stepforward and present their innovative ideas formaking a tangible difference to the country’ssocial scenario. Through Wateen Scouts, thecompany aims to empower the youth of Pakistanin enabling the change they wish to see in thecountry. The campaign, launched throughdigital and social media platforms, carries amessage of change from renowned motivationalspeaker Nadeem Chawhan, who is spearheadingthe campaign. Mr Chawhan is a senior facilitatorand consultant with Navitus, a leadingmanagement consulting and training firm with a

rich history of adding value to the corporatesector in Pakistan and abroad. PRESS RELEASE

Mazars organises conferenceon women empowerment LAHORE: Mazars in Pakistan organised a“Women Empowerment Conference” at theSerena Hotel in Islamabad. The conferenceincluded female public representatives, CEOs,NGO activists, media celebrities andentrepreneurs who highlighted their experiencescherishing womanhood and the dailyprofessional challenges they encounter. MsMuriel de Saint Sauveur, International Marketingand Communication Director at Mazars, who hasworked extensively to identify the needs andsuggest ways to empower today’s women, sharedher thoughts at the event. PRESS RELEASE

LAHORE:Mr Fan Yunjun, CEO, ZONG (2nd from left)along with management team inaugurating themultimedia contact centre in Lahore. PRESS RELEASE

SAP develops mechanism to monitor sale

ISLAMABAD: MOL Pakistan delegation consisting ofManaging Director Mr Erno Liptak and PoliticalAdvisor Ali Murtaza Abbas calling upon the FederalMinister for Petroleum and Natural Resources DrAsim Hussain. PRESS RELEASE

‘SMEs showcasingproducts in int’l fairswill enhance exports’

LAHORE

STAFF REPORT

PAKISTAN’S exports can be enhanced manifold byenabling local SMEs to showcase their products inthe international trade fairs. It was stated by

Yousaf Naseem Khokhar, Chief Executive Officer Smalland Medium Enterprises Development Authority(SMEDA) while addressing a presentation ceremony onthe world’s largest trade fair of printing and publishingbusiness, Drupa, as a guest of honour. Syed Babar Ali,the renowned businessman was chief guest on thisoccasion. LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh, GermanEmbassy Economic Consul Samy Saadi and Laison OfficeMesse Dissever In-charge Jamil A Naz also addressedthe ceremony. SMEDA CEO said SMEs had 25 per centin total manufactured exports of the country. He wasoptimistic the share could substantially be increased byintroducing SME produced items in the world market.He said SMEs should be facilitated both by private andpublic sector, facilitating organisations to participate inthe international trade fairs. Khokhar appreciated localliaison office of Messe Düsseldorf for attracting SMEDAtowards international trade fairs to be held in Germany.Syed Babar Ali, while speaking on the occasion saidDrupa to be held in Germany in next May can be the bestsource of knowing the latest development in the world’sprint media, publishing and converting industry. He saidhe had visited Drupa seven to eight times in the past thathelped him develop his packaging business in Pakistanat par with international competitors.

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