Community Should Support Reconstruction Opportunity Zone (ROZ) Initiative
By Shahid Tarar
Commercial Consular
Consulate General of Pakistan
Los Angeles, CA
A bill aimed at creating “Reconstruction Opportunity Zones” in Pakistan has recently been moved in the Congress. Once legislated, it will significantly enhance Government of Pakistan’s capability to effectively combat the menace of insurgency and extremism. Concomitantly, the new law will also help consolidate the trade regime laying groundwork for multiple increase in exports to USA.
Your participation, by motivating the members of Congress to help move this bill, is critical to its success. Let’s not miss out on this rare opportunity of far reaching impact and help shape the destiny of our beloved country.
Letting your members of Congress know that you care matters and engaging them is easy. A letter, a phone call or an e-mail would certainly help in enlisting their crucial support.
Introduction
Under the Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) strategy, a significant number of goods including some textiles, manufactured or grown in designated sites (the ROZs) in Pakistan 's border area with Afghanistan, as well as in Afghanistan, will be able to enter the US market duty-free.
Successive Washington visits of Pakistani business delegations, as well as inquiries from businesses to the trade office at the Pakistani Embassy confirm the strong interest of the private sector in availing itself of this program. Experience with similar programs elsewhere in the world demonstrates their value in dramatically expanding exports. The export growth will generate much- needed jobs and economic activity in the border areas, countering the recruitment efforts of the insurgents and contributing to stability there.
The ROZ initiative needs to gain a positive vote in Congress before it can be implemented. Bills have been introduced by Democratic Senator Maria Cantwell of Washington State (S. 2776) and by Democratic Congressman Chris Van Hollen of Maryland (H.R. 6387) and are working their way forward. Both bills have Republican sponsors, also. Because this is an election year and because trade measures are difficult to move in this Congress, we believe that a strong, concerted Congressional lobbying campaign by the Pakistani-American community across the US will be a needed and effective reinforcement to our advocacy efforts in Washington, DC.
Process
The most effective lobbying is via a personal visit to Washington to speak with the senator/congressman or the staff member in charge of foreign affairs or trade issues. A phone call, letter or e-mail, are other possibilities. (Please be sure to fax, rather than mail letters. Security screening delays transmission of letters.) Be sure to let them know you are a constituent.
To maximize effectiveness, we suggest that you encourage business associates, friends and others who share a desire to see ROZ legislation move forward to contact both senators and their member of Congress.
To identify your representative and senators, click on www.house.gov or www.senate.gov and insert your nine digit zip code or name of the state in which you reside. The House of Representatives site also permits you to send an e-mail message directly from the site.
When you contact the senator or representative's office, be sure to indicate the number of the bill – for contacts with senators it is S. 2776 and for representatives it is H.R. 6387. And don't forget to mention that you are a constituent.
The Message
We believe the following general messages need to be conveyed in contacts with members of Congress and staff:
The Reconstruction Opportunity Zone (ROZ) initiative will make a very strong contribution to counter insurgency goals that are shared by the US, Pakistan and Afghanistan .
The new, democratically elected government of Pakistan has a two-track approach to tackle the problem: military means to eliminate terrorists and socio-economic and development tools to drain the swamp in which insurgency and terrorism thrive.
Once enacted by Congress, ROZ industrial sites will provide incentives for Pakistan's private sector to create jobs and generate income that will effectively fight recruitment efforts of the Taliban and al-Qaeda and stabilize the border.
We urge you to pass [S. 2776 for contacts with your senators or H.R. 6387 for contacts with your representative] as soon as possible.
If you would like to see the full bill text, click on http://thomas.loc.gov/ and insert the bill number (S. 2776 or H.R.6387) where shown.
Finally, please let us know who you contacted, when and the result. You may send ane-mail with that information to apessala@dl.com.
Conclusion
Members of Congress listen closely to their constituents, so each contact is very important to the overall effort. Remember: Our key objective is to cover as many of the 100 senators and 435 representatives as possible as quickly as possible via personal or other contacts by you, their constituents.
