Govt urged to remove fear of doing business Financial Daily 07/02/2020

KARACHI: The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) held a
meeting at a private club to get input from its council on the requirements of the sector for onward sharing with the Small and Medium
Enterprises Development Authority (SMEDA)and Sindh Economic Zones Management
Company (SZEMC), says a Press release.
Chaudhry Azhar convener policy and planning welcomed Abdul Azeem Uqaili
CEO SEMC, provincial chief SMEDA Mukesh Kumar, Zulfikar Thaver president
UNISAME and other participants.
Thaver urged CEO SEMC to give top priority to the SME sector and facilitate them
as much as possible with best terms.
The CEO explained the salient features of Dhabejji and other zones and the prospects
and invited participants to benefit.
Thaver highlighted the basic requirements of the sector for affordable finance, uninterrupted energy at affordable cost, raw material and packing material at 0 % duty, technological and marketing support , a strong SMEDA, friendly policies of taxation incentives and subsidies for import substitution industries, balancing, modernisation and replacement and level playing field.
Chaudhry Azhar apprehended the impact of coronavirus on trade with China which calls for high alert and readiness and alternate arrangement. He also lamented that
commercial importers are abusing the equal
status given to them which is given to manufacturers by importing components and
assembling and selling electronic items by underground methods and destroying the
bona fide manufacturers’ feasibility. This is malpractice he warned.
Shaukat Ali invited the attention that it was not ease of doing business or cost of
doing business but the main issue is fear of doing business. In view of this the meeting resolved to urge the government to comprehend this issue seriously and change its outlook, policies and plans to accommodate businesses and treat businessmen as very important contributors to the economic growth of the country.
Sajid Naqvi, Shoaib Shamim, Yousuf Yaqoob, Javed Amersy, Zafar Abbas, Rabi Malik and Raymond Alfrey gave valuable suggestions for training programmes, R&D,
improvements in technology, banking, insurance, leasing and other aspects for
uplifting the sector on fast track.
The participants endorsed the plan of the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) to broad-
en the taxnet but did not agree with taxing the filers more and putting heavy burdens
on those already paying taxes.
The government has choked the economy by unwise steps and the real estate and
housing sector has come to a standstill by hasty steps of the government without proper homework.
Unisame has sought representation on board of directors of SMEDA, PCSIR, SME
BANK, NBP, EDB, SEDF and TDAP and recommended names of Chaudhry Azhar,
Yousuf Yaqoob and Junaid Naqi to represent the majority sector on the board of
stakeholder companies for SME promotion and development.

Posted in: Press Releases