By AsgharAli Mubarak
Islamabad: Federal Minister for Inter-Provincial Coordination and President Pakistan Sports Board (PSB) Dr. Fehmida Mirza held meeting with Finance Minister Shaukat Fayyaz Ahmad Tareen on video link. The agenda of the meeting was relief in import duty on sports related items in the forthcoming Finance Bill. Secretary IPC and DGPSB were also present in the meeting. “Since the economy is in a better position this year, we want to increase visibility of sports as we are preparing for the saff Games and the upcoming Olympics, and we need financial support for that. she said.
We want the government to reduce tariffs on sports equipment such as hockey turf, athletic track, and squash glass court in this coming finance bill. In addition, we want certain sports to be exempt from tariffs.
Countries around the world contribute a portion of their taxes to sports. We want the federal government to devise a system to contribute a portion of taxes to the sports fund to support national team players. Since the national teams represent Pakistan, the federal government should sponsor them. We are developing an elite pool of players to whom the federal government can provide support and funding to represent Pakistan at the international level.
The Federal Minister proposed to include sports in CSR (Corporate Social Responsibility). Our business community has shown interest in sports, she said. Our business community also have representation in the Pakistan Sports Board.
