BoP President calls for special maritime zones, policy reforms, tax exemptions to boost blue economy.

ISLAMABAD -- President of Bank of Punjab (BoP), Zafar Masud suggested introducing tax exemptions and incentives for investors in blue economy, capacity building and skills training on fish preservation of local fishermen, and sought policy reforms for fostering investors' confidence in blue economy, and development of special maritime industrial zones, said a press release issued here on Thursday.

He was speaking at the launch of a report entitled 'Pathways to a Sustainable Blue Economy: Role of Financial Institutions' organized jointly by Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) and Bank of Punjab (BoP) on Thursday.

In his opening remarks, the BoP President said that blue economy offered poverty-stricken communities livelihood opportunities, yet it remains underexplored by policy makers. He further said that importance of blue economy was evident from the fact 'life below water' had been incorporated in Sustainable Development Goals.

'Blue economy contributes 0.45% to GDP which is $ 1 billion and 0.2 % of GDP is contributed by marine fisheries which is overexploited,' he said, adding that Pakistan's maritime sector was confronted with governance issues, poor technology, marine pollution, and destruction of mangroves. He pointed out that $5 billion could be generated annually through coastal and marine tourism.

Dr Abid Qaiyum Suleri, the SDPI Executive Director, said that blue economy had immense untapped potential which required out-of-box solutions. 'Only adding a port without a port city will not add anything substantial to the economy,' he said and suggested that we must focus on rules and policies on trans-shipment and turning our ports into green and completely change the fate of these ports.

He further proposed to develop marine tourism and reduce fossil-fuel based transport through in-land freight by adding sea liners and insurance covers in the sector something India has already achieved.

Rear Admiral Muhammad Ehsan Saeed, Former Chairman of Gwadar Port, said that Karachi and Port Qasim were adequate to meet the future needs for next 25 years. '$500 million of fish exports is sustainable, anything higher for some years can exhaust the marine resources. He suggested developing maritime tourism in Astola to kickstart marine tourism.

Dr Vaqar Ahmed, the SDPI Joint Executive Director, suggested developing online tracker of blue investments for both in pipeline and potential investments, which, he maintained, would help identify...