Pakistan to Start Exporting Mobile Phones from January 2022

ISLAMABAD: Advisor to Prime Minister on Trade Abdul Razzaq Dawood has said that Pakistan will start exporting mobile phones from January 2022.

According to reports, in the Senate Commerce Committee meeting chaired by senator Zeeshan Khanzada, he (Khanzada) stated that a Chinese company has established a mobile phone manufacturing factory in Karachi.

After the meeting, Abdul Razzaq Dawood said that production of mobile phones in Pakistan has already started and now he is trying to persuade the Chinese to import mobile phones from Pakistan. 

“The Chinese started production of the phones last year and I gave them a target for December 2021, on which they stated we can start exporting mobile phones from January 2022,” he said.

In response to a question about the export target, the trade adviser said that since it is a new product for export, no target has been set for it. “It will not be long before Pakistan starts exporting mobile phones,” he said.

Regarding Samsung’s operations in the country, Abdul Razzaq Dawood said that initially Samsung had refused to come to Pakistan but later changed its mind and agreed to do business here. 

During the meeting, the committee expressed frustration over the absence of Commerce Secretary Muhammad Saleh Farooqi.

Additional Secretary Commerce Mujtaba Memon told the committee that Saleh Farooqi has gone to Karachi for preparations for Expo 2022.

His problems caused a few problems since Senator Danish Kumar said that he would not attend the next meeting if the Secretary was absent. Senator Fida Mohammad urged the Committee Chairman to write a letter to the Senate Chairman on the Secretary Commerce’s conduct.

On the other hand, Senator Danish Kumar and Senator Ahmed Khan boycotted the meeting but Senior Fida Mohammad withdrew both.

The senators also expressed displeasure over the non-receipt of working papers by the Ministry of Commerce on time. Abdul Razzaq Dawood apologized to the committee members for the absence of the Commerce Secretary.

Briefing the committee, the Director-General of Trade said that the export targets in the last two programs were unrealistic and therefore could not be met.

On the other hand, the Ministry of Commerce said in a statement that China was not banned from importing Pakistani rice, citing media reports which reported that due to coronavirus, Pakistani rice in China was banned.