Trade Facilitation Board approved to streamline cross-border trade

Prime Minister Muhammad Shehbaz Sharif has approved the creation of a Trade Facilitation Board that he will chair personally, Mettis Global reported. The body is tasked with strengthening the whole trade chain and resolving non-tariff obstacles that affect cross-border commerce. The approval was given at a meeting on trade facilitation held in Islamabad on Thursday.

According to a press release, the proposed board will draw up a roadmap for trade promotion, build a Trade Facilitation Index and set out a way to track reforms linked to trade. The premier also ordered emergency work to lift the operating capacity of ports, with several working groups to be formed. Those groups will concentrate on port capacity, inter-departmental coordination, regulatory compliance, pre-arrival clearance and greater SME participation in international trade.

He instructed that importers and exporters receive the greatest possible facilities at ports, and that rules on moving and clearing goods be streamlined. Officials told the meeting that port charges had been cut as part of continuing reforms, which had markedly raised port utilisation.