UNISAME URGES MOC TO EXPEDITE QRC CLOSURE

UNISAME QUESTIONS DELAY IN IMPLEMENTING QRC CLOSURE DECISION….PPI/DAILY NEWS/OBSERVER/STATESMAN & OTHERS 21/09/14

The Union of Small and Medium Enterprises (UNISAME) has invited the urgent attention of the federal commerce minister engineer Khurram Dastagir to the unnecessary delay in the closure of the Quality Review Committee (QRC) despite the fact that the ministry of commerce (MoC) finally decided to close it after studying all the pros and cons and conveyed the decision in writing to the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP).

President UNISAME Zulfikar Thaver said It is believed that the Director General TDAP (DG) held meetings in this regard and also some decisions were taken about golden handshake for the QRC and it was also unanimously agreed by all the participants in the meeting that QRC had served its purpose and it is no more useful and needs to be disbanded.

The meeting agreed on the futility of QRC and realized that the pre-shipment inspection (PSI) is the prerogative of the buyer and PSI is always by a third party. The meeting decided wisely but is unwisely delaying the implementation.
The basmati export business has changed radically and the buyers are buying either their own brands or they buy the brands of the rice exporters and the quality is known by the brands.There are varieties which are far more expensive than basmati and are in great demand. The recent floods in Punjab have caused huge losses to the rice sector and the rice sector needs to be facilitated immediately and all hindrances need to be removed immediately.

UNISAME has urged the MoC to recommend exemption of with holding tax on export of rice to the finance ministry to enable the rice exporters to reman competitive.

Thaver also said that the federal commerce minister Khurram Dastagir also assured the rice exporters that the QRC would be closed and the rice exporters would be able to export basmati rice without any impediment. It is very important to remove all hindrances in the export of basmati rice as there is tough competition from India. Most of the basmati rice after value addition is exported by the SMEs as the big exporters are exporting non basmati rice in big quantities.

It is believed that the DG TDAP had demanded the audited reports of QRC accounts from the Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (REAP) and the meeting convened by him endorsed the requirement but it is presumed that REAP has not yet submitted the audited reports. Perhaps this is the reason for the delay in closure of the QRC but surely it is not a valid reason as non closure after a firm policy decision amounts to willful omission. The MoC needs to look into this seriously.

UNISAME has requested the MoC to enlighten them on the subject in the best interest of the SME rice exporters who are at a loss to understand the delay in the implementation of the decision and fulfillment of the promise to do away with this hurdle.

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