Pakistan Agriculture Exports Suffering From Strict Regulations Abroad: PSW

Pakistan’s agricultural exports are suffering from trade regulations in areas such as testing, certification and licensing because most countries have stringent regulations in place to protect human health and the environment.

To address these issues and expand market reach the Pakistan Single Window (PSW) conducted capacity-building sessions in Faisalabad and Gujranwala in collaboration with the All Pakistan Bedsheets & Upholstery Association of Pakistan (APBUMA) and the Seed Importers and Producers Association of Pakistan (SIPAP) as part of its Change Management component. The sessions were attended by a large number of importers and exporters transitioning to the Single Window system for cross-border trade

Boosting trader participation in the capital market will improve the volume of transactions in Pakistan. One of the key challenges facing Pakistan at the moment is the volume of business. Trade regulations in areas such as testing, certification and licensing are challenging for 60 percent of Pakistan’s agricultural exporters. This is large because most countries have stringent regulations in place to protect human health and the environment.

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Pakistani exporters face significant challenges as compliance to non-tariff measures (NTMs) imposed by trading partners on their imports is overly complex or trade restrictive as businesses may not only face prohibitions but report strict requirements on product quality in destination markets. Furthermore, businesses report procedural obstacles related to trade that can arise in Pakistan, during transit or in destination countries. Lack of appropriate information and difficulties in retrieving information made available to businesses impedes border facilitation.

Speaking on the occasion, Domain Officer PSW, Mr. Zaheer Abbas stated, “PSW is on a transformational journey for digitizing and realigning cross-border trade procedures with internationally recommended best practices. The integration of the Federal Seed Certification and Registration Department (FSC&RD) is a big step forward towards facilitating seed imports and will save importers time and cost for imports”.

He also acknowledged the active cooperation of FSC&RD in automating and integrating their business processes with PSW. The Chairman of SIPAP Mr. Mian Muhammed Azhar Siddique stated, “FSC&RD has been an important partner and collaborator of PSW and its officials and management have played a key role in achieving this integration”. 

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The PSW platform provides greater transparency, upgraded quality and customs infrastructure, streamlined procedures and better enforcement of quality compliance. It is also a digital solution which provides an integrated trade portal – Tradeverse to give traders the guidance and information they need to succeed. During the session, the PSW participants in Gujranwala were given a walkthrough of the PSW e-Trade system integrating the Federal Seed Certification & Registration Department with PSW. The new service enables electronic filing and processing of import permits and release orders pertaining to FSC&RD and is gradually being rolled out across the country.

A high level of interest and participation was also observed by members of ABPUMA in the Faisalabad session. The PSW presentation by Mr. Salman Afzal, Domain Officer PSW was followed by an interactive Q&A session regarding export procedures and issuance of financial instruments by commercial banks. Representatives from the State Bank of Pakistan and the commercial banks dealing with international trade finance also attended the event.

The PSW system began rolling out in July 2021 and achieved phase 1 completion on 30 June 2022, in line with Pakistan’s commitment to the World Trade Organization (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA). It currently has more than 52,000 registered users. Services currently offered by the system include electronic customs registration, online processing, and issuance of import permits, Phyto-sanitary certificates, release orders and other documents pertaining to the above-mentioned government agencies, and digital payments. In addition to these services, PSW has also launched its Trade Information Portal providing a single access point for all information related to imports, exports, and transit also in compliance with Article 1.2 of the TFA.