ISLAMABAD : President Pakistan Business Forum (PBF) Omar Shahid Butt has said increasing exports is the only way to develop the country and to end dependence on loans and grants.
In a statement issued here on Friday, Omar Shahid Butt said that the local pharma industry has the potential to earn handsome foreign exchange through exports for which the support of the government is needed.
He said that the global pharma market is almost $1.3 trillion in which North America has fifty percent share while Pakistan’s share is very insignificant.
The President PBF said that India is exporting pharmaceutical products worth $18 billion in which $14 billion is exported to the US while Pakistan’s total exports stood at $200 million dollars.
Pakistani pharma industry prefers to export products to poor countries while exporting products to the US and EU would require improved quality, he added.
Omar Shahid Butt said that the government should establish Pharma Export Council to improve the quality of pharmaceutical products so that these could be registered in developed nations.
He said that the TDAP has not served the export sector, therefore, the council should be established, the sector should be given tax breaks and other relaxations while taxes and duties on import of raw material should be reduced or waived.
The President PBF said that Indian pharma products are losing US and EU markets due to increasing complaints of quality, quantity, deceptive marketing, greed, etc. which is an opportunity for Pakistani industry to capture some share of the market.
Local pharma industry can cash in on the opportunity and to learn from the failures of the Indian companies to create an ethical culture essential to success, he maintained. (INP/SB/AK)
