RAWALPINDI, Sept 20: The Study Group on the Electronic Goods Industry, in its maiden meeting held in Islamabad on Saturday discussed the roadmap for its working and constituted sub-committees for different segments of the electronic sector.

The group had been constituted by the Ministry of Industries and Production on the initiative of Engineering Development Board (EDB) and assigned to study and evaluate the potential of indigenous manufacturing of electronic equipments not only to meet the local demand but also to venture into the global arena by evolving a coherent strategy for its development.

The meeting was chaired by Mian Muhammad Jawed, ex-chairman, PTCL and PEMRA as its convener. In his opening remarks, Mian Javed called upon the electronic industry to take a fresh look in order to make the country self-sufficient in meeting the needs of consumers and entering global market for reducing trade deficit.

He lamented that the electronic industry was heavily depending on imports and it will be difficult for the country to meet demand in future as the rupee cost of consumer items would increase manifold and the nation would not be in a position to bear this burden. He described indigenisation as the only way of survival.

In this regard he cited the example of Finland a small country with 40 per cent global market of mobile phones and said that Pakistan was spending more than a billion dollar yearly on import of mobile sets.

He underlined the need of moving from assembly to innovation in order to avail vast opportunities of exports. He said that this would increase the profit of the industry, therefore, they should focus on exports and indigenisation.

EDB Chief Executive Officer Asad Elahi in his remarks described electronic industry as vital and important for the progress and development of the country.

He said that EDB was a special organisation as it was pursuing the policy of public-private cooperation in formulation of various policies and strategies for development of engineering sector.