FTA with China help to boost local industry: Firdous

ISLAMABAD (APP): Special Assistant to Prime Minister on Information and Broadcasting Firdous Ashiq Awan on Sunday said new Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with China would help local manufacturers to boost export sector of the country.

Talking to media during her short stopover at Gujrat, she said that the industries of Gujrat, Gujranwala and Sialkot were facing difficulties and showing declining trend due to the bad economic policies of the previous regimes.

The special assistant said the new agreement would promote textile, food processing and manufacturing units which would eventually help local traders to export their products to China and other countries of the world.

This would also help reduce the gap between the country’s import and export, she added.

Firdous said Special Economic Zones (SEZs) would be set up in the country with the recent accords with China, adding that Gwadar would emerge as economic hub at international level.

She said Prime Minister Imran Khan was the first leader who was talking about the national interest in such an effective manner, while in the past, previous rulers only paid foreign visits for their vested interests.

Firdous said the government was working out various strategies to resolve socio-economic problems of the country. The poverty alleviation was the government’s top priority, she added.

The special Assistant who was heading towards Sialkot accompanied with Minister for Parliamentary Affairs Azam Sawati was warmly welcomed in Sarai Alamgir and Gujrat by the Member of National Assembly Tashfeen Safdar and other party workers.