Circular debt issue resolved, says PM

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Prime Minister Yousaf Raza Gilani on Friday said the government had addressed the circular debt issue to a large extent and the resolution would lead to maximum thermal generation of electricity and a considerable improvement the supply.
The prime minister said this while chairing a meeting regarding the access to European markets that was attended by Minister for Commerce Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Adviser on Finance Dr Abudl Hafeez Shaikh, senior officials of the ministries of commerce, textiles, foreign affairs and representatives of private sector.
The commerce secretary informed the meeting that the WTO had approved European Package of 75 items on February14. He said after the approval of the EU parliament these items would be exported to European Markets without any duty from January 1, 2013.
The secretary said over and above impact on Pakistan’s export would be around $450 million to the European Union. He further said in the GSP Plus, the European Union changed criteria to the advantage of Pakistan that could be attributed to the hectic efforts of the government’s functionaries under the guidance of the prime minister.
It was decided in the meeting that the prime minister would preside over the meeting of Envoy’s Conference belonging to European Union during his forthcoming visit to UK to appreciate the support of EU.
The secretary also informed the meeting that EFTA, countries out of European Union, like Iceland, Norway, Lichtenstein, Monaco and Switzerland, had also indicated their willingness to initiate dialogue on the trade agreement with Pakistan. The dialogue is expected to be held in April this year and if concluded it will further boost Pakistan’s exports in these countries, the secretary maintained.
Representatives of the private sector called upon the government to take immediate action for the uninterrupted supply of energy to the export industry in order to fully capitalise the expected tariff concessions from the EU and EFTA countries.
The prime minister said he had already held a meeting with the representatives of APTMA today who suggested some out of box solutions to overcome energy shortage in the country.
He said that the UK secretary of state for international development, Andrew Mitchell, had also appreciated the normalisation of trade links between Pakistan and India.