Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry’s United Business Group (UBG) Chairman Shahzad Ali Malik on Thursday stressed the urgent need for re-visiting and adopting new trade strategies to explore new global markets for boosting exports. Talking to a delegation of industrialists and traders led by Momin Ali in Lahore, he said that one of the key issues that Pakistan faces was the lack of access to consumers in its key markets. Although the European Union had provided duty-free access to several items under the GSP Plus scheme, Pakistan’s exporters don’t meet EU standards, he said and emphasised the need to bring production lines at par with international standards to dominate in foreign markets for enhancing exports, said a press release issued here. Malik termed the lack of diversification in exports as one of the biggest challenges that Pakistan faced. He said exporters from Pakistan were heavily concentrated in textiles and cereals, which dominate the top 10 products exported from the country. He said although Bangladesh had a similar composition, it exports more value-added apparel and garments, while Pakistan’s top 10 export products include lower value-added bed linen and towels. He said, on the other hand, Vietnam had expanded its export basket to include more high-value-added and sophisticated products. It exported more than $33.6 billion worth of cell phones in 2021, becoming its second-largest exporter in the world. Whereas, it had reported zero exports in 2007. He said a major reason for the inability of Pakistan’s exporters to participate in exporting activities was the lack of competitiveness, which is associated with low levels of productivity and high trade costs. Shahzad Ali Malik said as the increase in trade deficit creates jitters amongst policymakers, they often resort to increasing trade restrictions and imposing inward-looking policies to reduce the trade deficit. He said import restrictions and an increase in import tariffs on several commodities had resulted in a shortage of goods and a reduction in manufacturing activities in the country. He said imports into Pakistan had increased from $43.6 billion in 2011 to $73.1 billion in 2021. A similar trend was reported for Bangladesh, while Vietnam’s imports increased from $106 billion to $330 billion in the same time period. He said it was important to note that imports increase as economies grow and consumer demand expands. However, unlike Bangladesh and Vietnam, Pakistan had not increased its exports, leading to a burgeoning trade deficit. He said Pakistan and the US must address the tariff issues as increased market access could help boost the capabilities of Pakistan’s exporters. Finally, he said it was imperative to reduce the trade costs incurred by domestic producers. One of the biggest deterrents to participation in exporting activities was the presence of information asymmetries, Malik added.