Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif has turned down the policy guidelines summary of the Commerce Minister pertaining to the appointments of trade officers in Pakistani missions abroad and appointed a committee to give recommendations for the policy guidelines.
The PM has raised objections to the policy guidelines and appointed an eight members committee under the chairmanship of former secretary Nasir Khosa to give recommendations on the policy guidelines, an official source told ProPakistani.
The committee includes Secretary Finance, Trade, Economic Affairs, Secretary Establishment Division, DGR&A Federal Board of Revenue, and former federal secretaries Asad Hayauddin and Shahid Ashraf Tarar. The committee will make recommendations after comparing the existing policy of the appointment of the trade officers and proposed policy guidelines, the source said.
The committee will also review the procedures for the placement of trade officers abroad and the results of written and other tests of the candidates, the source said. The Prime Minister will approve the policy guidelines in the light of the recommendations of the committee, the source said.
It is worth noting that the Ministry of Commerce had sent the policy guidelines, for the appointment of trade officers in Pakistani missions abroad, to the Prime Minister for approval. Currently, there are around 40 vacancies of trade officers are lying vacant in various Pakistani missions across the world and the Ministry of Commerce has recommended to the Prime Minister to make the posting to these vacant posts as per the new proposed policy guidelines, the source said.
As per the proposed guidelines of the Commerce Ministry, for the first time it has been recommended to make the psychological test of candidates mandatory for the appointment of foreign trade officers, the source maintained.
The source said that it has been further proposed in the policy guidelines to exclude the Economist Group from the process of appointing trade officers. It has also been proposed to include the officers of the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) in the process of appointment as trade officers to foreign missions, the source informed.
The tenure of the existing trade officers posted abroad had expired on December 31, 2022, and the Prime Minister had already granted an extension of six months (January 1, to June 30, 2023) to these officers. The process of appointment of new trade officers will be started after the approval of the new guidelines by the Prime Minister, the source said.
