1 (50th Session) NATIONAL ASSEMBLY SECRETARIAT ————— “QUESTIONS FOR ORAL ANSWERS AND THEIR REPLIES” to be asked at a sitting of the National Assembly to be held on Monday, the 25th February, 2013 (Originally Starred Question No. 16 was set down for answer during the 49th Session) 16. *Mr. Sajid Ahmed: Will the Minister for Commerce be pleased to state: (a) the names of government departments which monitor to explore new trade markets; (b) the performance shown by those departments during the year 2011-12 till date; and (c) the names of countries with whom Pakistani exports have reduced during the last five years alongwith the reasons thereof? Minister for Commerce (Makhdoom Muhammad Amin Fahim): (a) Trade Development Authority of Pakistan is responsible for exploring new trade markets for Pakistan’s exports. (b) TDAP participated in all the major trade fairs held in important trading partners of Pakistan. Expo Pakistan 2012 provided a useful platform for enhancing commercial relations with Pakistan’s major trading partners, Private sector trade representative bodies and associations were actually involved in trade promotion events/expos organized by TDAP and the private sector in different Countries. 2 TDAP has played a pivotal role in coordinating inbound and outbound trade delegations. In addition, participation international trade expos and hosting the Expo Pakistan has resulted in enhancing Pakistan international trade profile during the last three years. (c) The list of countries with which Pakistan’s exports have been decreasing since last five years is placed at Annex-I. The reasons for decrease in Pakistan exports to these countries are given helow:— • Deteriorating law and order situation due to on-going war on terrorism has also adversely affected the performance of industrial sector thereby leading to decrease in Pakistan’s exports performance. • Declining performance of Pakistan’s industrial and manufacturing sector due to non-availability of electricity/gas causing supply side constraints. • Low global demand for textile products due to recession and disposable income crunch in 2008-09. • Pakistan’s share of exports to the European Union (EU) countries has been steadily declining since 2005 when the Drug related special concession (GSP+) was withdrawn by the EU. • De-listing of Pakistan’s fisheries establishments in 2007 by the European Union hampered Pakistan’s exports to EU member countries thereby causing decrease in total exports. • The rise in non-tariff barriers like certification requirements, sanitary and phyto-sanitary (SP S) standards etc. by some major markets of the world caused decrease in Pakistan’s exports. • The conclusion of preferential trade agreements by the competitors of Pakistan with some major markets of the world e.g. US, EU, South Korea, Central America etc. 3 4 @130. *Ms. Imrana Saeed Jamil: Will the Minister for States and Frontier Regions be pleased to state the steps taken by the Government for the repatriation of Afghan Refugees from the country during the last four years till date? Minister for States and Frontier Regions (Mr. Abbas Khan Afridi): Steps taken during the last four years (since 2009), are as under:— • Framed Management and Repatriation Policy/Strategy for Afghan Refugees living in Pakistan, in lines with the Tripartite Agreement between the Governments of Afghanistan & Pakistan and the UNHCR on the voluntary repatriation of Afghan refugees, and approved by the Cabinet on 24th March, 2010. • The Strategy, alongwith above Tripartite Agreement, is valid till 30th June, 2013 and is under implementation; with main focus to repatriate maximum number of Afghan refugees till 30th June, 2013, provided there is no drastic change in the situation. • To maximize the repatriation, the number of Voluntary Repatriation Centers have been increased from two to three (one each in Chamkani & Bunair in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and one in Baleli in Balochistan) and kept operational throughout the calander year despite the previous practice of winter breaks to facilitate voluntary repatriation. • To encourage and motivate the Afghan refugees to repatriate, the repatriation package of US$ 100 per returnee has also been enhanced from US$ 100 to US$ 150 from January, 2011; with free transportation. • As a result of hectic efforts and persuasions, 55,283 Afghan refugees families comprising 296,192 individuals (registered Afghan refugees) were repatriated during the last four years; bringing the total repatriation to over 3.8 million since 2002. • The Government of Afghanistan was pursued and resultantly, they established 48 Reintegration Cites at various secure places for returning Afghan refugees. —————————————————————————————— @ Transferred from Interior Division. 5 • In order to resolve this protracted issue, with sustainability and amicably, the Governments of Afghanistan, Iran & Pakistan and UNHCR jointly developed a multi-year approach “Voluntary Repatriation, Sustainable Reintegration and Assistance to Host Countries” in the regional context that was agreed to in January, 2012 and subsequently was also endorsed by the international community in a stakeholders Conference held in May, 2012. The focus of this approach is on (a) creation of conditions conducive for voluntary repatriation through community based investments in areas of high return as well as (b) building of Afghan refugee capital linked to livelihood opportunities in Afghanistan to facilitate return. • The present remaining number of registered Afghan refugees in Pakistan is 1.6 million. To deal with repatriation of these remaining refugees, the Prime Minister has recently constituted a Cabinet Committee in December 2012 under Chairmanship of the Minister for SAFRON with members from Ministries of Interior, Foreign Affairs and other relevant agencies to: i. find ways & means to expedite maximum repatriation up till 30th June, 2013; and ii. coordinate, consult and deliberate with Government of Afghanistan, UNHCR and other stakeholders and prepare specific modalities and strategies for solution-oriented future course of action beyond 30th June, 2013. • The international community has been and is being pursued effectively and continuously on each available fora for enhanced and continued support to ensure maximum repatriation and no effort or opportunity is spared to resolve the protracted issue of Afghan refugees amicably as early as possible 1. *Ms. Shireen Arshad Khan: Will the Minister for Commerce be pleased to state the year and country-wise quantity of sea food exported during the last five years alongwith the kinds and value thereof? 6 Minister for Commerce (Makhdoom Muhammad Amin Fahim): (a) Statement showing the year and country-wise quantity of seafood exported during the last five years alongwith the kinds and value is at Annex-A. The total value of seafood exported during last five years is as under:— Value in million rupees —————————————————————————————— YEAR VALUE —————————————————————————————— 2007-08 13,327.5 2008-09 18,464.9 2009-10 19,049.8 2010-11 25,313.9 2011-12 28,597.5 —————————————————————————————— Source: F.B.S (Annexure has been placed in the National Assembly Library) 2. *Ms. Tahira Aurangzeb: Will the Minister for Commerce be pleased to state; (a) the year-wise volume of trade made between Pakistan and African countries during the last three years separately; and (b) the steps taken by the Government to increase the said volume during the period from March, 2008 till date? Minister for Commerce (Makhdoom Muhammad Amin Fahim): (a) Year-wise volume of Trade between Pakistan and Africa Pakistan considers Africa as a market with huge potential for developing trade relations in goods and services. Pakistan’s exports to Africa during 2011-12 amounts to US$ 1636.79 million and imports from Africa for the same period stands at US$ 1383.804 million. Pakistan has trade ties with all countries in the African region but major trading partners are South Africa, Kenya, Egypt, Cote de Ivory, Sudan and Djibouti. Volume of trade during the last three years with Africa is given as under:— 7 Value Million US$ —————————————————————————————— Year Exports Imports Total Trade —————————————————————————————— 2011-12 1636.7 1383.8 3020.5 2010-11 1601.1 1495.4 3096.5 2009-10 1397.9 1101.2 2499.1 —————————————————————————————— (Year wise bilateral trade details are attached at Annex-I) (b) Steps taken by the Government to increase volume of trade. There are two types of steps taken by Government to increase volume of Trade i.e. Market Access Initiatives and Trade Promotion; I. MARKET ACCESS INITIATIVES (i) Pak-Mauritius PTA Pakistan and Mauritius signed the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) on 30th July, 2007, at Port Louis, Mauritius and is operational since 30th November 2007. Two rounds have so far been held to convert PTA into FTA. Third round under Joint . Working Group was held in February, 2011. Fourth round is expected during 2013. (ii) Pak –Tunisia PTA First Round of Pakistan and Tunisia PTA was held on the sidelines of Pak-Tunisia JMC during September, 2012 at Islamabad. (iii) Pak-Algeria Trade Agreement. Pakistan and Algeria are negotiating a Trade Agreement since many years. Now Ministry of Commerce has completed all the codal formalities and it is expected that the Trade Agreement will be signed during the 2nd Session of Pak- Algeria JMC scheduled for 19-21 March, 2012. 8 (iv) Pak-Libya PTA During the visit of the President of Pakistan to Libya from 30th April to 2nd May 2009, Pakistan proposed to initiate negotiations on Free Trade Agreement (FTA). (v) Pak –Morocco PTA. During the first session of the Pak-Morocco JMC meeting held in Rabat on July 17-18, 2008, it was mutually agreed to initiate and conclude bilateral PTA. Both side also agreed on the roadmap. (vi) PTA with Southern African Customs Union (SACU) Ministry of Commerce has given its consent to MoFA (Pakistan’s High Commission in South Africa) for requesting SACU to negotiate PTA with Pakistan. (vii) PTA with East African Community(EAC) This Ministry intends to have a preferential trade agreement with East African Community; the same has been conveyed through diplomatic channel.