Commerce Desk
ISLAMABAD: The 39th International Conference of the Pakistan Society of Development Economists (PSDE), hosted by the Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), concluded on October 16 with a call for structural reforms, lower trade costs and a broader export base.
Chief guest Rana Ihsaan Afzal Khan, Coordinator to the Prime Minister on Commerce and Industries, said the National Tariff Policy 2025-30 would rationalise about 7,500 tariff lines and cap customs duty at 15 per cent. He added that SME financing would double to PKR 2 trillion and that about 500 regulatory requirements were under review.
Dr. Faheem Jehangir of PIDE noted that Pakistan’s GDP has doubled in 15 years while exports have barely moved. He blamed protection-oriented incentives, policy discontinuity, weak investor confidence, high logistics costs and a narrow export base.
The conference proposed six priorities: sustaining URAAN Pakistan beyond political cycles, tariff reform and strategic trade agreements, streamlined logistics oversight, investor safeguards, exporter upgrading through SME clusters, and new growth engines in AI-enabled agriculture, ICT, the blue economy, tourism and creative industries. Better Single Window integration and corridor coordination could cut trade costs by 10-14 per cent, while 5,000 new SMEs could add US$2.5 billion in exports.
SECP Chairman Dr. Kabir Ahmed Sidhu and Tsinghua University’s Prof. David Daokui Li delivered memorial lectures. Of 204 abstracts, 24 papers were selected, and awards were presented for the best papers and posters.
PIDE Vice Chancellor Dr. Nadeem Javaid urged policymakers to turn the findings into practice, supporting the goal of US$100 billion in exports by 2035.
