Blockage of import material in wake of coranavirus to be disastrous: Rana Sikandar

FAISALABAD (INP): President Faisalabad Chamber of Commerce & Industry (FCCI) Rana Sikandar-e-Azam Khan has said that blockage of import of industrial raw material in the wake of coronavirus threat will be disastrous for the entire productive process of Pakistan which will also have negative impacts on our exports and national economy.

Addressing the Executive Committee meeting here on Saturday, Rana Sikandar-e-Azam told that Pakistan is importing major chunk of its raw material from china. He said that Pakistani exports are directly linked with import of raw material which is used in almost all exportable surpluses. “We are also meeting our domestic needs from imported raw material for manufacturing of large variety of items including textiles”, he added.

He told that as 12-13 Billion dollars are earned by textile export, it will be a major setback if import of raw material from china was blocked on the plea to control the spread of coronavirus. He said that government should avoid any such step and rather it should issue directives to gear up the process of the clearance of imports from china.

Senior Vice President FCCI Zafar Iqbal Sarwar said that it is very critical issue as WHO has already declared it a global threat. He said that we must take prudent measures in prevailing situation and as a responsible state we must play our role in containing this disease. Quoting a “Hadees”, he said that Muslims have been directed not to even visit mosques in case of any contagious disease.

Engineer Babar Shahzad told that as per a report, government is mulling to clamp ban on Chinese export in order to contain coronavirus. He told that ban on eatables is understandable but we cannot justify stopping import of industrial raw material. He said that any such step will be tantamount to shatter the entire industrial sector which may triggered a new economic crisis. He said that government should streamline imports from china and instead facilitate its imports rather than creating any hurdle in this process.

Dr. Sajjad Arshad told that Quarantine is the only solution to control spread of any kind of virus threat. “Generally that specific and infested area is isolated to check further spread of such virus and we should also take necessary precautionary measures in this regard.

Secretary General Abid Masood told that many countries have already issued travel advisory while flights to and from China have also been suspended. He further told that there are around 28,000 Pakistani in China, out of which 5,000 are present in virus hit Wuhan Province. Chinese government has banned movement form this province and nobody is allowed to go out or inside this province. He further told that objective of this step is to contain coronavirus and it is only way through which world could control this deadly virus.