Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif has directed that effective measures be taken to eliminate unnecessary delays in trade processes, reduce the cost of doing business and promote exports.

He was chairing the first meeting of the Trade Facilitation Board in Islamabad today [Thursday].

The Prime Minister said the government is committed to providing all possible facilities to the business community and promoting trade and business activities. He said making Pakistan an effective part of regional and global supply chains through trade facilitation is amongst the government's top priorities.

Shehbaz Sharif said the fundamental objective of the Trade Facilitation Board is to remove barriers to trade-related procedures. He instructed that all relevant institutions at high-volume ports should provide services to the business community at a single location. He also called for promoting joint inspections and joint profiling by relevant agencies.

The Prime Minister also directed that a comprehensive audit of all non-tariff measures be conducted and unnecessary barriers to trade be removed. He also called for effective measures to bring direct shipping lines to Pakistani ports as it will make the delivery of products from Pakistani factories to global buyers faster and easier.

He gave instructions for the preparation of a National Trade Performance Index to measure key indicators, including cargo dwell time, customs clearance, logistics, ship clearance time, post-clearance audit and pre-clearance.

The Prime Minister called for special measures to increase the participation of small and medium-sized enterprises in international trade. He directed that the trade journey of SMEs be mapped to identify the barriers they face at different stages.

He also called for strengthening the risk management system to facilitate trade and directed that controls be extended from the pre-arrival to post-release stage to expedite cargo clearance.

The Prime Minister said detailed inspections should be conducted only for high-risk cargo and directed that artificial intelligence should be utilized to make risk management more effective and accelerate trade processes.

The meeting was briefed on targets under the Time Release Automated System for all ports.

It was informed that a target has been set to achieve thirty percent pre-arrival clearance by the end of the current financial year, while the share of the green channel will be increased to sixty-five percent.

The meeting was informed that the number of Authorized Economic Operators is also targeted to be increased to over fifty by the end of the current financial year.

On the occasion, Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif approved the targets set under the Time Release Automated System for all ports.

He also approved the formation of a working group to review non-tariff measures and directed it to present a roadmap within one month for eliminating unnecessary regulations and facilitating trade.