Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif Thursday said the government was committed to making Pakistan an effective part of regional and global supply chains through trade facilitation. Chairing the first meeting of Trade Facilitation Board, he said the government was committed to providing all possible facilities to the business community. "Promoting trade and facilitating business activities is among the top priorities of the government," he said, adding, "Effective steps should be taken to eliminate unnecessary delays in trade processes, reduce business costs and promote exports." Shehbaz said, "The main objective of the Trade Facilitation Board is to remove obstacles in all trade related procedures.

All relevant institutions at high volume ports should provide facilities to the business community at one place. A system of joint inspection and joint profiling of various institutions should be promoted. A comprehensive audit of all non-tariff measures should be conducted and unnecessary obstacles in the way of trade should be removed.

Effective measures should be taken to bring direct shipping lines to Pakistani ports." He said direct shipping facility will make it easier and faster to deliver products from Pakistani factories to global buyers. He directed to develop National Trade Performance Index, which will measure key indicators including cargo dwell time, customs clearance, logistics, ship clearance time, post-clearance audit, and pre-clearance. The PM also called for special steps to increase the share of small and medium enterprises in trade and urged for identification of obstacles faced by SMEs through mapping different stages of their trade journey.

"Risk management system should be made more effective to facilitate trade. Controls should be expanded from pre-arrival to post-release stage to speed up the cargo clearance process and detailed inspection of only high-risk cargo should be undertaken," he continued. "Use of artificial intelligence should be initiated to make risk management more effective and to speed up the trade process." Separately, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif said Pakistan was firmly committed to completely eradicating polio, as he met with a delegation from the Gates Foundation.

The delegation, which called on the prime minister, included Gates Foundation representatives Kalpana Kochhar and Anita Zaidi, a Prime Minister's Office news release said. The prime minister appreciated the Gates Foundation's continued support and partnership with Pakistan amid the country's developmental challenges.