A workshop on ‘’Tools to understand NAMA better’’ was jointly organized by Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry and Ministry of Industries and Production, which was attended by representatives from government stakeholder departments as well as a large number of representatives from the private and industrial sector.

The President ICCI Mahfooz Elahi expressed his appreciation for the efforts of Ministry of Industries and Production for sharing information on significant issues in the WTO related to the industrial sector, specially Non Agricultural Market Access.He emphasized that Private Sector must be involved in the consultation process, while negotiating on tariffs and signing FTAs and PTAs with different governments.

Mrs. Shaista Sohail, Joint Secretary MoI&P and Project Director of the dedicated WTO Unit of the Ministry thanked ICCI for organizing the Workshop. She explained that the objectives of the Unit were to assist the Industry and Businesses understand the ongoing negotiations and the existing agreements and develop analyses implications for the Industry.

She then gave a brief over view of the WTO and explained the basics of the NAMA proposal on the table and briefed the participants about the current state of play at the WTO. She also answered questions about the formulation of a new industrial policy document.

Ms.Seema Raza Bokhari NAMA Specialist in the WTO cell of MOI&P briefed the participants regarding tools required to understand NAMA with a specific focus on the harmonized system and its importance for negotiations and day to day business.

Tauseef Zaman, Vice President of Islamabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry stressed on the need of organizing such programs in future as well, to create an awareness on the important issue pertaining to the business community.

At the end of briefing session,participants from the government departments and the private sector participated actively in this interactive session and showed great interest in the subject.