ISLAMABAD (APP): Federal Minister for Industries and Production Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar Friday directed the senior officials of his ministry to initiate consultation with all the stakeholders for an inclusive industrial policy.
The minister was chairing the preliminary meeting on industrial policy, attended by the Secretary Industries and Production and other senior officials, besides the consultants of Asian Development Bank (ADB) and UK Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO).
The consultants briefed the meeting on key thematic areas and fundamental metrics of upcoming industrial policy, said a press release.
The minister said the new industrial policy should be focused on enhancement of local production, increase in value-added exports, and import substitution to ease the chronic problem of trade deficit and spur industrialization to promote jobs in the country.
Makhdum Khusro Bakhtyar laid stress to improve manufacturing base of defining industrial sectors, including textile, steel, light-engineering, pharmaceuticals, food processing, petrochemicals, fertilisers, pink/rock salt and cement at the level of global competitiveness and productive diversity to harness global export market.
The minister said, “We have launched a holistic National SME (Small & Medium Enterprises) Policy, which will be beneficial for growth of small businesses and industrial units while creating massive opportunities for employment.”
He stressed the need to chalk out the framework to connect competitiveness of SMEs to LSM (Large Scale Manufacturing) in the industrial policy.
