The Special Investment Facilitation Council (SIFC) convened the 12th meeting of its Executive Committee on Wednesday to review progress on various aspects and projects under key sectors of SIFC.
The meeting was chaired by the Minister for Planning, Development and Special Initiatives, Prof. Ahsan Iqbal and attended by concerned Federal Ministers, National Coordinator SIFC, Federal Secretaries, Provincial Chief Secretaries and high-level government officials.
The ministries presented progress on various projects and policy level initiatives, being steered through the forum of SIFC, and gave comprehensive plans for fast tracking various matters.
The Committee discussed and developed consensus on major policy aspects concerning key sectors including Industry, Agriculture & Livestock, Mines & Minerals, Oil & Gas, Ports & Maritime, Aviation and Connectivity & Infrastructure.
The Committee reviewed the progress and gave directions for swift implementation of renewed approach towards Special Economic Zones (SEZs) Framework, which has been recently approved by 11th Apex Committee Meeting, chaired by Prime Minister. The Committee highlighted that close coordination and cooperation amongst concerned stakeholders is imperative to foster industrialisation in the country and efforts to rejuvenate SEZs paradigm will act as catalyst in this endeavour.
The Committee appreciated the ongoing efforts for granting Industry status to Warehousing & Logistics sector and gave directions to expedite the approval processes. The Committee highlighted that such policy initiative will unlock investments for developing modern supply chain infrastructure to support exports, agriculture and manufacturing sectors, with the potential to place Pakistan as preferred country in global and regional supply chain paradigm.
The Committee reviewed the progress and gave directions to expedite various infrastructure related aspects of ports and shipping including fresh dredging of the ports’ channels and optimisation of terminal handling to facilitate exports of mineral products and imports of various commodities.
The Committee also gave directions to expedite various pending cross-sectoral matters through policy level initiatives and stakeholders’ consultation, utilising the forum of SIFC.
