Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry has termed the market access to Pakistan under the European Union’s Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) Plus a great achievement for the country as will be one of the factors that will help revive the economy.
 

Shaban Khalid, President, Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry said that many countries have been opposing the grant of GSP Plus to Pakistan and lauded the efforts of the government for lobbying with EU countries of its significance for our economy. He said the facility would boost our exports by providing easy access to many of our textile products besides earning foreign exchange and creating new jobs. 
 

He said the facility will also bring back precious local and foreign investment in textile industry that had shifted out of Pakistan to set up manufacturing units to the countries enjoying GSP Plus status. It is a clear indication that the government believes in trade and not in aid.

Such measures will also help the government to adopt indigenous and home grown policies by the people and for the people instead of adopting policies dictated by the aid providers. 
 

ICCI President appreciated the government initiative for establishing Pak-China Economic Corridor and hoped that it would provide Pakistan easy access to huge markets of China and Central Asian States. It will facilitate movement of goods along the corridor and thus improve our foreign exchange. The planned Economic Zones in the Corridor will encourage investment in value added industries. The Corridor would also improve rail & road infrastructure in the area and strengthen Pakistan’s connectivity with regional countries. 
 

Shaban Khalid also welcomed the Prime Minister’s incentive package for economic revival and hoped that it would change the sentiments of business community as well as pave way for improving growth of business activities & enhancing investment. The package shows that current leadership understands the issues of business community and is committed to create an enabling environment for promotion of business activities. These positive initiatives would contribute in halting the outflow of capital from Pakistan and bringing in more local and foreign investment. He said the announcement of Privileged Taxpayers Card an encouraging step to promote tax culture in the country.  
 

He said we are hopeful that the measures and steps announced by the government will actually be implemented and will not remain just statements as was the case in the past. We are ready to cooperate with the government for giving practical shape to these initiatives as their implementation would improve confidence of businessmen, attract new investment, generate more tax revenue, create new jobs and put the economy on the path of sustainable economic development, he said.