Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) has urged the government to enhance investment in research and development (R&D) sector which will help in accelerating economic growth of the country.

Presiding over a meeting of ICCI Sub Committee on R&D, Zahid Maqbool, President ICCI said that developed countries are spending about 3 percent of GDP on research and development whereas in Pakistan per capita R&D spending is amongst the lowest due to which country is lagging way behind in achieving better economic growth.

He said growth rate of a country increases with an increased investment in R&D activities. Moreover, high investments in R&D sectors leads to high productivity and eventually to an increased economic performance.

He said Pakistan can significantly improve its exports by paying more attention on research and development. He said due to negligible investment in research and development, Pakistan’s share in total world exports is on the decline while many developing countries including China, Malaysia, Thailand and India have shown a rapid expansion in exports by increasing their spending on research and development sectors.

Zahid Maqbool said less investment in R&D sectors is also affecting the country’s competitiveness as Pakistan ‘s competitive ranking has dropped on the World Economic Forum’s Global Competitiveness Index.

He stressed the need for reviewing country’s exports portfolio as well focusing more on producing hi-technology products. He said Pakistan ‘s exports have traditionally remained concentrated in textile and other low technology areas whereas the share of hi-tech products in the overall world trade has increased to more than 65 percent.