ISLAMABAD (APP) - Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Thursday urged the government to enhance its spending on research and development (R&D) sectors to accelerate economic growth of the country. Developed countries are spending about 3 percent of GDP on research and development sectors whereas Pakistan is spending less than 1 percent due to which country is lagging way behind in achieving better economic growth. President ICCI Zahid Maqbool while presiding over a meeting of ICCI Sub-Committee on research and development said that Pakistan can significantly enhance its exports by paying more attention on research and development. Due to negligible spending on research and development, Pakistans share in total world exports has now come down to 0.13 percent while many developing countries including China, Malaysia, Thailand and India have shown a rapid expansion in exports by increasing their spending on research and development sectors, he said. He said Pakistan has huge potential in all sectors of economy, and could get its due place in the world only to increase its attention on research and development. He said this is also affecting countrys competitiveness as Pakistan 's competitive ranking has dropped on the world Economic Forums Global Competitiveness Index. ICCI chief stressed the need for reviewing countrys exports portfolio as well focusing on producing hi-technology- products. He said Pakistan 's exports have traditionally remained concentrated in textile and other low technology areas whereas the share of hi-tech products in the overall world trade has increased to more than 65 percent.