The National Assembly was informed today that the government is pursuing a policy to improve the country's trade environment through fostering export sectors and contributing to overall economic development.

Responding to a question during the Question Hour in the House today, Parliamentary Secretary for Commerce Zulfiqar Ali Bhatti updated that the current Strategic Trade Policy Framework  includes boosting Pakistan exports competitiveness through implementation of various interventions across all sectors.  He said it is also focused on securing market access through Free Trade Agreements, Preferential Trade Agreements and strengthening trade links with the Central Asians Republics, Turkey, Iran, Europe and Russia.

The Parliamentary Secretary informed that the two new trade missions are being created at Darussalam, Tanzania and Maputo, Mozambique for enhancing trade related engagements in the region. He said a Memorandum of Understanding has been shared with the East African Community with the aim to conclude a Free Trade Agreement with Kenya and Rwanda and Kenya.

Answering another Question, Zulfiqar Ali Bhutti has said that bilateral trade volume between Pakistan and Saudi Arabia during the last fiscal year was 5.7 billion dollars.

Replying to a question, Parliamentary Secretary for Commerce informed the House that his ministry has successfully secured duty free concession on more than 94 percent of Pakistani products in the UK after Brexit. 

Responding to a calling attention notice, Parliamentary Secretary for Finance and Revenue Saad Waseem Sheikh informed the House that the Federal Government has so far provided over 600 billion rupees to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Government for the development of the erstwhile FATA. He said this amount has been provided to provincial authorities other than Khyber Pakhtunkhwa share in the NFC award. 

Replying to another calling attention notice, Minister of State for Railways Bilal Azhar Kayani said laws and mechanisms are there to ensure lawful share of women’s inheritance rights. He, however, said this is an important issue, which requires more efforts to ensure women’s inheritance rights. He said that several awareness campaigns are also being launched in this regard and also urged the religious scholars to play their due role in this regard.

Several bills were introduced in the House today.

These include; “The Criminal Law (Amendment) Bill, 2025”,  “The Orbit Institute of Management and Technology Bill, 2025”, “The Right to Free and Compulsory Education (Amendment) Bill, 2025”, “The al-Biruni International University Bill, 2025”, “The Anti-Rape (Investigation and Trial) (Amendment) Bill, 2025” and “The Pakistan Citizenship (Amendment) Bill, 2025.”

The chair referred the bills to the standing committees concerned.

The House will now meet again tomorrow at 11 in the morning.