MULTAN, April 3: Pakistan currently is faced with a critical situation owing to low volume of exports and high ratio of imports which is negatively impacting the size of its foreign exchange.

The main responsibility lies with the private sector to tap full potential of its resources to produce quality products to compete in the international market.

These views were expressed by speakers at a workshop, organised by the Punjab Resource Management Programme (PRMP), here on Thursday on the issue of private sector’s persistent non-compliance of labour, environment, safety, health and other standards.

The main focus of the workshop was areas like power, hand-looms, cotton and mango, where compliance of relevant international conventions and protocols has become a serious issue.

Punjab’s Commerce and Industry Secretary Syed Tahir Raza Naqvi said that the province, particularly with its cluster of cotton, textile, surgical, supports, leather, cutlery, citrus and mango, has the potential to improve the overall situation and it can be possible only by fully complying with the international conventions and protocols.

He said in today’s world strong defence of a state is determined by the strength of its economy and not by the size of its army while developing strong links with the international economic market has been proved to be key factor behind the sustained progress.

He said that the government was fully involved in strengthening the private sector and offering maximum incentives to the private sector to make them able to compete in the international market.

Mr. Naqvi said there was a need to create awareness among the private sector contributors as the issue of non-compliance of international conventions and protocols has come up with serious implications.

Earlier, Deputy Programme Director PRMP, P&D Department Salman Mufti revealed that since creating awareness in the private sector about the benefits of complying with the international standards in industry was needed, the PRMP has arranged a series of workshops in various cities of Punjab and they were also making efforts to establish a coordination vehicle regarding coherent information exchange about various international conventions and other standards.

He said that quality and environment issues dominate the international market and by achieving sustained growth in exports, the country can gain economic stability.

Badr-ul-Islam said that today’s economically integrated world, countries that have strengthened their links with the global economy through trade and investment have generally grown more rapidly over a sustained period and one of the major hindrances for the low-income countries, including Pakistan, towards adopting this path is the limited enterprise capacity to comply with international buyers’ requirements.

He was of the view that international buyers are increasingly demanding compliance to safety, environment, ethical and social standards which are a pre-requisite to entering the world market.

Abid Javed said that strong coordination between the government and private sector is a key to ensuring enhanced volume of economic strength, stability and improved exports as well.

He stressed the need for more consultative sessions among representatives from both sides so as to remove the bottlenecks in the way of tapping full potential of the private sector.

Provincial Caretaker Industry Minister and President Multan Chamber of Commerce and Industry Jalaluddin Rumi informed the workshop that Pakistan is facing a critical phase in terms of low exports and high imports which is regularly creating wide trade imbalance.

He called for strengthening strong coordination between the public and private sectors so that the general awareness about these standards is created.

Center for Improvement of Working Conditions Director Saeed Awan revealed that some two billion workers worldwide are exposed to one or more of the thousand of potentially hazardous chemicals and biological agents used at work.

He said that the situation in many developing countries, like Pakistan, is even graver owing to a number of factors, like lack of reliable information and data of deaths and injuries suffered by the workers every year.

He urged the private sector to ensure implementation of all relevant standards as it would be in their own benefit in terms of enhanced exports.

Former Secretary, Commerce and Investment Department Saeed Ahmed Alvi pointed out that the government was fully involved in strengthening the private sector and the private sector should adopt a mature approach towards adopting the working standards as the issue of non-compliance of such protocols would negatively impact the country’s exports.