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Pakistan replaces EPB with Trade Development Authority

The authority, to be an autonomous body both financially and administratively will be headed by Chief Executive Officer (CEO), who would enjoy the status of the Minister of State besides having additional powers of hiring and firing.

Chairing the meeting on the restructuring of EPB, Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz said on Tuesday the TDAP would be formally set up through an act of parliament and asked the ministry of commerce to submit draft legislations to the cabinet within a period one month. An informed source said that the meeting decided that no employee of the CTG would be disturbed. “There are plenty of option for these officers and their future prospects would not be diluted,”, the source said.

Chairman EPB Tariq Ikram gave a detail presentation to the prime minister on TDAP, which was approved ‘as it is’. The meeting was attended among others by Minister for Commerce Humayun Akhtar Khan, Secretary Commerce Syed Asif Shah, Secretary Establishment Division Syed Tariq Ali Bokhari, Vice Chairman EPB Zafar Mahmood.

Under the approved plan, there will be a chief operating officer, who would also work as principal accounting officer from the government service in the grade of BPS21 or 22, who would report to the CEO. The CEO would give report to the board consisting of members from private and public sectors to be headed by commerce minister as chairman of the board. The performance appraisal and the reporting of commercial officers posted abroad would not be shifted to TDAP from ministry of commerce.

The EPB would hire two consultants for policy, procedure formulation and human resource audit. All the officers of the CTG would be given a chance for qualifying the audit requirement for selection to the new authority, which would offer market based salaries.

However, these officers would have to relinquish their previous engagements with the CTG group and civil service and would become the part and parcel of the new the established authority.

According to an official announcement, the prime minister said TDAP would be set up on modern lines and would follow a holistic approach to development of exports and would avail the opportunities and challenges posed by emerging global trading environment. It would also prepare and pursue an aggressive strategy for enhancement of Pakistan’s foreign trade.

He said the dynamics of world trade were changing and the country has to compete with the world and called for the need of having a pro-active, result oriented approach.

He said the Export Development Strategy will focus on volume and value enhancement by maximising market share of existing Core Sectors besides achieving value addition.

The premier said Pakistan needs to develop an export culture as it would create jobs, enhance industrial production and earn foreign exchange. The government, he said, was also investing in developing infrastructure to create a logistics chain leading to improved efficiency and reduction in cost of doing business.