Pakistan

<p>To support ongoing efforts to improve Pakistan&rsquo;s trade competitiveness, ITC has been asked to leverage its NTM Survey methodology to identify for Pakistan:</p><ul><li><p>The most challenging non-tariff measures by sector, company size and partner country</p></li><li><p>Existing national procedures and facilities which need to be strengthened in order to better support the business sector in export and import operations</p></li><li><p>Feasible actions to overcome existing trade obstacles and reduce trade cost</p></li></ul>

<p>ITC -FCDO programme is a component in the framework of a larger FCDO-funded programme aimed to support Revenue Mobilisation, Investment and Trade in Pakistan, thus contributing to sustainable and inclusive economic development in the country.&nbsp;</p><p>The ITC implementation aims to promote and enhance international trade competitiveness in Pakistan through three areas of intervention:</p><ul><li><strong>Pakistan National Export Strategy</strong>: Developing Pakistan&rsquo;s National Export Strategy (NES) elaborated through public and private dialogue;</li><li><strong>Trade Policy:</strong> Improving market access opportunities for Pakistani businesses by implementing trade policy reforms and addressing trade barriers, and;</li><li><strong>Trade Facilitation:</strong> Implementing trade facilitation reforms reflecting public-private consensus and improving business compliance with cross-border requirements.</li></ul><p>The Action will also focus on women-owned enterprises and their participation in international trade.</p>

<p>The objective of this project is to enhance the functionalities and effective use of Trade Facilitation Portals by beneficiary countries with a view to create a more conducing cross-border environment for traders through improved transparency and simplified trade formalities.<span>&nbsp;This project builds upon ITC - UNCTAD longstanding partnership in the area of trade facilitation and creates opportunities for further build synergies across the agencies&apos; respective technical assistance offering.</span></p>

<p>The Growth for Rural Advancement and Sustainable Progress (GRASP) programme contributes to the reduction of poverty through development of rural SMEs in the Sindh and Balochistan provinces of Pakistan. As such the programme contributes directly to the attainment of the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.</p><p>GRASP will create gender inclusive employment and income opportunities in the rural areas through targeted support to both the public and private sectors. The programme is part of the focal sector &quot;Rural Development&quot; of the Multiannual Indicative Programme for Pakistan MIP: 2014-20. It will be implemented from 2019-2024.</p>

<p>Clothing is one of the largest industries in the world economy employing 60 to 75 million people worldwide. The negative social and environmental impacts of the fashion industry have been well documented, demonstrating that these impacts mostly occur within the upstream portion of the value chain. Improving traceability is a priority in order to determine how and where parts and components in production processes have been sourced and what are the environmental, social and health risks in the value chain. The action will support enhanced transparency and traceability in garment value chains, through the development of an IT &apos;track and trace&apos; platform that offers customized and open self-assessment and data sharing solutions for value chain stakeholders. Alongside the implementation of this platform, ITC will deliver a training and continuous improvement programme and, in collaboration with private sector partners, implement in a subset of textile and garment oriented countries.</p>