ISLAMABAD (March 04 2004): Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali said on Wednesday that the government will remove bottlenecks in the export of valuable cash crop of rice, besides, providing all facilities such as development of new varieties of rice and improvements in Basmati rice seed.

Problems like brand registration and availability of better seeds would be addressed by the government on top priority, the prime minister said, while talking to a 16-member delegation of Rice Exporters Association of Pakistan (Reap), led by Abdul Rahim Janoo here at the Prime Minister House.

The prime minister said that rice was an important cash crop and foreign exchange earner and directed the concerned stakeholders to enhance its exports.

For quickly redress the problems related to the export of rice, Prime Minister Jamali deputed one senior officer of the Prime Minister Secretariat to make liaison with the seed development institutions, Commerce Ministry and Reap to remove the bottlenecks.

The premier encouraged the exporters to look for enhanced market access in the countries, which were still untapped.

He urged them to make effective use of media for marketing the export of Basmati rice, which is the best rice in the world.

He, however, emphasised to focus more on quality rather than quantity.

The delegation informed the prime minister that out of the target of $ 555 million for export of rice, Reap has exported rice worth $ 370 million in the last six months and would surpass this year's target.

Abdul Rahim Janoo said that a delegation would visit India on March 9 to study feasibility of buying rice and processing machinery, especially for the parboiled rice to enhance our exports to the Gulf countries to earn more foreign exchange for the country.

The delegation thanked the premier for reduction of duty that has resulted in more export of rice.

The delegation included Jawad Rauf, Syed Zulfiqar Ali, Barrister Syed Najaf Hussain Shah, M. Anwar Mianoor, Muhammad Amjad, Mehmud Ahmed, Jawed Ali Ghouri, Muhammad Hanif Chaudhry, Muhammad Zubair Chaudhry, Muhammad Azhar Akhtar, Umer Ashfaq Butt, Malik Muhammad Jahangir, Saleem Paracha, Shahid Tawawala and Arshad Khalid.

Courtesy Business Recorder