ISLAMABAD - Pakistan on Tuesday said that its exports for the first time have crossed the $400 million to the United States (US). “I am glad to share that exports of Pakistan to US during the months of Oct & Nov 2020 stood at USD 430 million & USD 437 million respectively. This is the first time that our exports to the US have crossed 400 million dollars mark in a month,” said Adviser to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Investment Abdul Razak Dawood on Tuesday. He said that it is a great achievement by our exporters. He encouraged them to market their exports to US aggressively in order to capture a greater share of the market. Earlier, Pakistan’s exports of goods and services to United States of America (USA) witnessed a decrease of 0.57 per cent during the first quarter of current financial year (2020-21) as compared to the corresponding period of last year. The overall exports to USA were recorded at $1047.748 million during July-September (2020-21) against exports of $1053.767 million during July-September (2019-20), showing nominal decline of 0.57 per cent, according to the data of State Bank of Pakistan (SBP). On year-to-year basis, the exports to USA increased by 10.84 per cent by going up from $339.136 million in September 2019, against the exports of $375.907 million in September 2020. Meanwhile, on month-on-month basis, the exports to USA also rose by 12.33 per cent during September 2020 as compared to the exports of $334.629 million in August 2020, the SBP data revealed. Overall Pakistan’s exports to other countries witnessed decline of 10.46 per cent in first three months, from $ 5.984 billion to $ 5.358 billion, the SBP data revealed. On the other hand, the imports from USA into the country during the period under review were recorded at $ 440.388 million against $336.882 million last year, showing increase of 30.72 per cent in July-September (2020-21). On year-on year basis, the import from US witnessed an increase of 18.46 per cent by going up from $109.112 million in September 2019, against the imports of $129.259 million in September 2020. On month-on-month basis, the imports from USA however witnessed decrease of 7.76 per cent during September 2020, as compared to the imports of $140.144 million during August 2020, according to the data. Later, in a major success for the country’s rice exporters, Pakistan has managed to cancel of illegal registration of the trademark “KERNAL” by an overseas rice company. “I am glad to share that we have achieved cancelation of illegal registration of the trademark “KERNAL” by a rice company overseas,” informed Dawood in a tweet post. “This was tantamount to unfair use of intellectual property of Pakistan, as the word is similar to SUPER KERNEL, a premium Pakistani rice variety,” he said. The minister thanked the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) for bringing the issue to the Ministry of Commerce’s notice. “I urge exporters to keep informing MOC of such violations so that we can protect Pakistan’s intellectual property overseas,” he added.