KARACHI : Rabiya Javeri Agha, Secretary Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP), has said enhanced competitiveness and export potential in services sector is needed to accelerate economic growth and job creation. While addressing the inaugural session of a training workshop on “Trade in Services” organized at Karachi under the European Union funded TRTA II program, she mentioned that there is huge potential for export development in services trade particularly the telecom and transport sector.
She flagged that traditionally Pakistan has been concentrating on the exports of goods though a lot of remittances are received through the exports of skilled and unskilled labor force.
The training course was jointly conducted by International Trade Centre (ITC) and PITAD in collaboration with TDAP Karachi.
Professor Pierre Sauve, a renowned international expert on trade in services, thoroughly described the importance of services trade and comparative policy environment in different countries. He thoroughly described the rules of thumb for services negotiations and covered various commitments of Pakistan in bilateral services trade agreements.
Sajid Hussain, Director General PITAD, appreciated the efforts of ITC in developing institutional capacity of Pakistani training and research organizations. He emphasized the need to develop capacity to export services. He highlighted that the contribution of services is more than 52% in GDP which needs to be further developed so that Pakistan benefits from the vast export opportunities available in this sector.
Mohammad Owais Khan, Programme Officer International Trade Centre, introduced the EU funded TRTA II programme and highlighted the assistance provided by ITC to local training and research organizations to build their institutional capacity.
The training workshop was attended by 62 participants from public, private sector and academia.