ISLAMABAD: The upper house of the parliament unanimously passed the Pakistan Single Window Bill, 2021 on Monday that would pave the way for improved ease of doing business in cross-border trade.
Minister for Finance Hammad Azhar moved the bill in the house that met with Senate Chairman Sadiq Sanjrani in the chair.
According to the objectives and reasons of the bill, the Pakistan Customs would be a lead agency to establish information and communication technology-based National Single Window (NSW) system. The NSW is facility that allows parties involved in trade and transport to lodge standardised information and documents with a single entry point to fulfil all import, export and transit related regulatory requirements implementation of NSW, enables Pakistan to meet its obligations under World Trade Organisation’s (WTO) trade facilitation agreement while improving ease of doing business in cross border trade.
The draft PSW bill, 2020 provided a legal basis for adoption of functional, operational, governance and revenue models required to develop and operate the NSW system on a sustainable basis and in line with the best international practices. This bill will help Pakistan comprehensively improve transparency, efficiency and control and imports, exports and transit trade besides meeting its international obligations.
It will also help Pakistan unlock its potential in becoming a regional hub for trade and transit by reducing time, cost and complications associated with fulfilment of multiple paper based regulatory requirements.
The Senate also passed a resolution regarding increased efforts in the vaccination drive against Covid-19. The resolution urged the government to provide either free of cost anti-corona vaccine to the general public or as per original international market price.
Speaking on the resolution, Special Assistant to the PM on Poverty Alleviation and Social Safety Senator Sania Nishtar said that the pandemic is a national security issue and “we should deal with it keeping politics aside.” She called upon the entire society to combat the third wave of the coronavirus pandemic and make vaccination drive successful.
She said that the government successfully dealt with the first two waves of the virus keeping in view the lives and livelihood of citizens. Sania said the government has fixed prices of the vaccine under Drug pricing policy in a transparent manner and as per worldwide norm, elderly people and frontline health workers are being given the vaccine on priority basis.
Leader of the House in the Senate Shahzad Waseem has urged the opposition parties in the House to work for a unanimous stance on electoral reforms.
Speaking on the floor at the beginning of the new parliamentary year of the Senate, he said that electoral reforms are the only way forward in resolving issues about elections. He also said that the opposition should play its constructive role for betterment in the country.
He added constructive criticism is the essence of real democracy and “we welcome it at every forum.” He expressed hope that opposition in the House will play a positive role in making the parliament more functional.
Taking the floor, Opposition Leader in the Senate Yousaf Raza Gillani said he will work with all opposition parties and will also speak on behalf of the government if ever needed. The PPP chief said that he contested the Senate elections with the cooperation of PDM and will accompany the opposition in the Senate session.
“The PDM has become the voice of constitutional rights for women, minorities and others. We have come for the public interest and it is our duty to represent the people. The country faces many challenges for which we have to work together,” he said. The opposition leader advised newly elected members in the upper house to learn from the experiences of the old senators.
Taking the floor, PPP Senator Raza Rabbani tabled a constitutional amendment bill, seeking to bring the powers of the Senate at par with the National Assembly (NA).
“We talk about powers of the upper and lower houses of the parliament. The Senate does not have the same powers as the National Assembly. Both houses should have the same powers,” he added.
Putting forth his demand, the senator called for an amendment in the Articles 57, 62, 72, 73, 86, 89, 126, 159, 160, 162, 166 of the Constitution. He also asked for “allowing the chief minister of the province to speak in the house and barring senators from having their votes moved to another constituency”.
Subsequently, Chairman Sanjrani handed over the bill to the committee concerned. During the session, Sanjrani also assured a forensic investigation of the spycam fiasco.
Four bills were also introduced in the House. These include; [The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2021] (Amendment of Articles 57, 62, 72, 73, 86, 89, 126, 159, 160, 162 and 166), [The Constitution (Amendment) Bill, 2021], [The Islamabad Capital Territory Food Safety Bill, 2020], [The Public Private Partnership Authority (Amendment) Bill, 2021]. The chair referred the bills to the standing committees concerned.
The House was later prorogued.
