PM approves 20pc trade officers’ quota for overseas Pakistanis

PM approves 20pc trade officers’ quota for overseas Pakistanis

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister Imran Khan has approved quota of 20 percent for appointing overseas Pakistanis to the post of trade officers in Pakistan’s missions abroad.

The decision was taken during a meeting regarding reforms in posting of Trade Officers Abroad, a statement said on Tuesday.

It may be recalled that the prime minister had directed the ministry of commerce to revamp the entire system of postings of trade officers who are posted abroad to promote trade and commercial interests of the country.

The new policy approved by the prime minister focuses on transparent and merit-based selection of the trade officers, market diversification, involvement of Pakistani diaspora, rationalizing the expenditure, broad-based monitoring and performance evaluation and automation of the processes.

To effectively promote commercial interests of the country especially in the emerging markets and various regions across the globe, trade clusters have been focused in the new policy to ensure optimum utilization and maximum outreach of the trade officers.

The prime minister was informed that in order to ensure broad-based and real-time monitoring of the performance of the trade officers, the entire evaluation process has been made IT-based.

Secretary Commerce Mohammad Younus Dagha also briefed the prime minister about National Trade Data Analytics System which is being developed by the ministry.

The National Trade Data Analytics System with its comprehensive database of trade statistics, exporters/importers directory, product database and trade lead insight will help in better evaluation and promotion of trade interests of the country.