President Asif Ali Zardari, during his upcoming visit to Turkey, is likely to take up the issue of anti-dumping duty imposed by the Turkish government on Pakistani textile products. It is pertinent to mention that the Turkish government had imposed 18 percent more duty in addition to 6.5 percent import duty on denim fabrics on July 24 this year under the WTO rules.
As such, the Turkish importers are paying total 24.5 percent duty on Pakistani textile products which could cause a loss of $300 million to Pakistan, sources told Business Recorder. Turkey is one of the major importers of grey and denim fabrics from Pakistan, the sources said and added if decision of anti-dumping duty is withdrawn; it would give a boost to the Pakistani textiles' export to Turkey.
The President is scheduled to visit Istanbul on November 2, 2011 on invitation of Turkish President Abdullah Gul who will host trilateral summit of Afghanistan, Pakistan and Turkey which would be attended by Presidents Asif Ali Zardari, Hamid Karzai and Abdulla Gul. The summit agenda includes bilateral relations, co-operation on regional and international issues, peace, stability and reconciliation in Afghanistan and economic co-operation among the three countries.
Apart from other items of the agenda, the President is expected to convince the Turkish government for withdrawal of safeguard duty that was reportedly imposed to protect indigenous industry, sources added. The Advisor on Textiles to the Prime Minister, Dr Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, had requested the President to take up the issue with the Turkish government. The Turkish government did not only impose anti-dumping duty on the Pakistani fabrics but it also imposed the same duty on the exports of Bangladesh, Indonesia, China and Vietnam, Bangladesh and China.
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