PM approves restructuring of TDAP to push exports
Shehbaz Sharif ordered merit-based hiring and an outside audit firm after a review of the trade authority's performance in Islamabad.
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has approved a plan to rebuild the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) on modern lines, aimed at raising exports, widening access to global markets for Pakistani goods and bringing local industries, including small and medium businesses, up to export standards.
The decision was taken at a review meeting on TDAP's performance and reforms chaired by the prime minister in Islamabad. Express News reported the approval and the details of the meeting; UrduPoint carried the prime minister's remarks.
According to Express News, the prime minister said access to world markets for goods made by Pakistani industries is central to increasing exports, and that a restructured TDAP would help open that route. He said a complete ecosystem, including the full value chain, would be built for agricultural exports.
He directed that well-trained people be inducted into the authority transparently and on merit. Progress inside institutions, he said, is possible only when development is tied to targets and performance, and he ordered that a reputed private firm be engaged to audit TDAP's performance and finances.
The meeting was briefed on the authority's present working, its institutional structure and the problems in its current system. A comparative review of trade promotion organisations elsewhere found that effective agencies provide joined-up services for developing domestic markets, opening foreign markets, building exporters' capacity and promoting exports, the briefing said.
The reforms put to the meeting would narrow TDAP's mandate to eight core functions, reorganise its board and management, make its regional network effective, and use digital platforms and artificial intelligence. Performance would be tracked through measurable indicators and independent third-party evaluation.
A 12-month phased plan covering approval, design, implementation and independent evaluation was presented. The prime minister directed that the reforms be completed and put into practice by the middle of next year.
He said Pakistan's export capacity is broad and its geography advantageous, and that the government is facilitating industries and small and medium businesses so these strengths can be used.
Federal ministers Rana Tanveer Hussain, Jam Kamal Khan, Ahad Khan Cheema, Muhammad Aurangzeb, Attaullah Tarar, Shaza Fatima Khawaja and Dr Musaddiq Malik attended, along with the prime minister's adviser Haroon Akhtar, Minister of State Bilal Azhar Kayani and senior officials.
How the reports differ
UrduPoint led on the prime minister's remark that access to global markets for manufactured goods is key to raising exports, and gave no account of what the meeting decided. Express News led with the approval of TDAP's modernisation and was alone in reporting the proposed eight core functions, the 12-month phased plan, the mid-next-year deadline and the list of ministers who attended.
Pakistan overtakes Vietnam to take third place in rice exports
Express News put September shipments at 420,000 tonnes against Vietnam's 337,000 tonnes, with export volume up 51 percent in the July to September quarter.
PM scraps 80pc export condition for SME long-term loans
Banks are told they cannot deviate from the subsidised scheme, as the meeting hears more than 10,000 loan applications have arrived on a State Bank portal since November 1.
Pakistan seeks Turkish help to make FMD vaccine at home
A Turkish expert delegation will visit soon to explore the collaboration, which Islamabad links to disease-free zones and wider meat exports.
PM seeks wider trade and investment cooperation with China
Shehbaz Sharif told visiting party minister Liu Haixing that Pakistan wants sustained party-to-party engagement and closer work on connectivity and farm modernisation.
PAC tells foreign ministry to tighten accounting over mission fund abuse
The committee said staff in overseas missions were embezzling public money without accountability and ordered new secretary Asim Iftikhar Ahmad to send it revised rules.
Polio campaign reaches 22.1 million children in four days
The National Emergency Operations Centre says the fifth day of the 97-district round is under way and teams will keep working until November 8.
PTA and Meta block 176,000 WhatsApp accounts on recycled SIMs
The regulator has shared about 10 million recycled numbers with the platform and will send 5,000 a month to catch accounts left active after old SIMs were cancelled.
NA panel defers electronic transactions bill again as PPP talks continue
The PTA chairman told the same committee that five show-cause notices went to telecom operators in three months, but court stay orders have blocked penalty recovery.