TDAP ignoring IT in export promotion priorities
Jawwad Rizvi
LAHORE: The Information Technology (IT) sector of Pakistan, currently a booming industry with 30 percent annual growth rate, does not feature on Trade Development Authority of Pakistan’s export promotion priorities, a senior executive of an IT company told The News on Friday.
Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) organises Pakistan pavilions at international trade fairs out of Export Marketing Development Fund and subsidises around 100 exhibitions annually besides allocating some exhibitions to different trade bodies, he said.
TDAP has a services division to promote the services sector including Information Technology (IT) industry, but the IT companies are deprived of the subsidy, he said.
TDAP chairman was not available for comments despite repeated calls and reminders from The News for more than a week.
According to Pakistan Software Houses Association (PASHA), the current size of Pakistan’s IT sector is over $2 billion.
However, this futuristic sector is victim of neglect of both the TDAP, which monopolises the administration of EMDF and the Pakistan Software Export Board (PSEB), which has recently been marginalized due to the lack of funds and the disinterest of higher management, said an office bearer of PASAH requesting anonymity.
Industry sources revealed that, as with other sectors, in the Information and Communication Technology (ICT) sector also, the role of agents play an important part in inclusion of exhibitions in the TDAP calendar. The influence of agent is so powerful that the TDAP does not mind creating glaring policy distortions, they said.
As per information available on its website, TDAP participates in only one ICT exhibition, GITEX Saudi Arabia. The world’s largest ICT trade fairs, CeBit Germany, GITEX Dubai, Computex Taipei and CommunicAsia Singapore do not merit TDAP’s consideration.
CeBit, the world’s largest ICT trade fair showcases more than 3,500 exhibitors, GITEX Dubai with 3,000 exhibitors, Computex Taipei with 1,700 exhibitors and CommunicAsia Singapore with 1,300 exhibitors are the world’s second, third and fourth largest ICT fairs, industry sources said quoting publicly available data.
Ignoring the ICT industry’s leading events, TDAP has been consistently participating in GITEX Saudi Arabia, which has less than 200 exhibitors, out which 100 are local Saudi companies.
The local agent of the GITEX Saudi Arabia exerts two fold influence; to make sure that this exhibition was included and that the competitor events of the region were excluded. The same agent was representing two other exhibitions (Saudi Stone Fair with less than 200 exhibitors & Saudi Agro Food with less than 300 exhibitors). Both the events were comfortably placed on TDAP’s calendar of events.
A comparison with our competitors’ presence on the above-mentioned ICT events also highlights the anomaly in TDAP’s decision making, sources said. GITEX Dubai and CommunicAsia have been the favourite business choice of Indian ICT companies for participation where 56 and 54 Indian exhibitors participated as compared with GITEX Saudi Arabia where only one Indian exhibitor participated in the last edition. In the CeBit Hannover, there were 29 Indian exhibitors, sources said.
TDAP has not considered worthwhile to participate in all the above-mentioned leading industry events whereas it subsidised seven Pakistani exhibitors for participation in GITEX Saudi Arabia, they said.
Source: Dawn
Date:5/8/2011
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