The Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has said that Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved new policy for traders officers giving 20 percent quota to Overseas Pakistanis which was a good move and stressed that government should also consider giving certain quota to private sector in the new policy for Trade Officers that would help in better promoting Pakistan’s trade and exports. 
 

Ahmed Hassan Moughal, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that the role of trade officers was very important in promoting Pakistan’s trade and exports in foreign countries and giving representation to private sector in trade officers was important as private sector was the major stakeholder in trade and exports. He urged that private sector representatives should be allowed to compete in the examinations for trader officers and those who fulfill the merit-based criteria should be appointed as trade officers in various countries. 
 

ICCI President said that government should set annual export targets for trade officers and those who don’t meet the targets should be recalled that would improve the performance of these officers. He further said that trade officers should be exempted from protocol duties so that they could fully focus on identifying new opportunities for Pakistan’s trade and exports. He said many Pakistani missions in foreign countries were facing resource constraints due to which they were unable to explore new markets for Pakistani products. He stressed that government should provide required resources, especially to Pakistani Commercial Sections in foreign markets and further strengthen them so that they could play more effective role in improving Pakistan’s trade and exports.
 

Rafat Farid Senior Vice President and Iftikhar Anwar Sethi Vice President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that Pakistan had been focusing on few countries including US, EU and Middle East for trade and exports that needed re-evaluation. They said that Africa, Russia, Central Asia and many other regions offered great opportunities for Pakistan’s trade and exports. They stressed that government should appoint trade officers in all major cities of Africa, Russia, Central Asia and other non-traditional markets that would help in identifying new opportunities for enhancing Pakistan’s trade and exports.