Korangi Industrial Area accounts for 9pc of total exports: Qaiser

Federal Minister for the Board of Investment Qaiser Ahmed Sheikh told industrialists at the Korangi Association of Trade and Industry that the Korangi Industrial Area generates 9 percent of the country's exports, according to Business Recorder. He described the zone as strategically vital to the national economy. He also argued that Pakistan's business community had once shown considerable entrepreneurial promise.

He compared Pakistan with China, saying China had learned from Pakistan's business community during its early development and has since become the world's second-largest economy. In contrast, he said, only a few Pakistanis had built successful industrial careers, which he partly attributed to internal and political divisions. He added that the economy depends heavily on small and medium-sized enterprises that need more policy support, and questioned why exports have stayed near USD30 billion for years while regional peers ship several times more.

KATI President Muhammad Ikram Rajput urged the government to give Sheikh an important economic affairs portfolio, citing more than five decades of business experience. Rajput also called for a one-window mechanism to ease land acquisition, ownership checks, NOCs and departmental approvals for new industries, and urged faster action on energy costs, taxation and tax refunds. Sheikh said he had never taken a salary or government perks as a minister and had yet to secure a meeting with Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif despite repeated requests.