Islamabad, October 17, 2018 (PPI-OT): Prime Minister Imran Khan has said that the Government is firmly committed to reduce cost of doing business and to improve country’s ranking in the ease of doing business by extending maximum facilitation and provision of all possible support to the business community. The Prime Minister was chairing a meeting of the Council of Business Leaders here at Prime Minister’s Office. The Prime Minister said that in order to strengthen local industry and reduce cost of production, gas prices have been reduced for 05 export oriented industries so as to make our products internationally competitive. He said that the Government was also considering reduction in various duties including Custom duty, regulatory duties and others to further reduce business cost.
He said that the Government is also working on developing a national tariff policy to address issues of the business community and to remove anomalies in the existing tariff structure. On improving country’s ranking in ease of doing business in the country, the Prime Minister said that the Government has set the target of bringing the country into the list of first 100 countries by extending maximum facilitation and simplification of the procedures. The Prime Minister said that a special Complaint and Suggestion Cell is being established at Board of Investment to facilitate redressal of the complaints of the business community and welcome their suggestions with regards to business policies.
He said that the Complaint and Suggestion cell, which would be connected to Prime Minister’s Office would be functional in a weeks’ time. The Prime Minister also appreciated the input of the business leaders belonging to various sectors of economy who presented various proposals during the meeting for strengthening of economy and promoting critical sectors such as manufacturing sector, SMEs, agriculture and IT sector.
Those who attended the meeting included among others Mr. Muhammad Ali Tabba, Mr. Bashir Ali Muhammad, Mr. Shahid Sooty, Ms. Seema Aziz, Mr. Azam Farooque, Mr. Shahid Abdullah, Mr. Khawar Anwar Khawaja, Mr. Babar Badar, Mr. Saqib Shirazi, Ms. Samina Rizwan, Mr. Almas Haider, Mr. Abdul Rauf and Mr. Zarak Khan. Minister for Finance Mr. Asad Umar, Advisor on Commerce Mr. Abdul Razzak Dawood and senior officers were also present during the meeting.
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