75 products from Pakistan: WTO okays EU duty waiver

The World Trade Organisation's (WTO) Council on Trade in Goods (CTG) on Wednes-day unanimously approved the much-awaited the European Union (EU) waiver on duties for 75 products from Pakistan, allowing duty-free import of 75 products from Pakistan. These products include certain textile products, leather goods and ethanol.
The European Union (EU) used its contacts to successfully those countries, including Bangladesh, which were opposing the package on different grounds. India, however, had announced support for the package at a meeting between Prime Ministers Yousaf Raza Gilani and Dr Manmohan Singh.
Official sources told Business Recorder .that now the trade package would be presented before the General Conference of the WTO for approval, where no opposition is expected.
After the General Conference clears the package, a Bill will be tabled in the European Parliament for final approval, in which some changes may have been made, but not necessarily.
The financial impact of trade package is expected to be around 900 million euros in three years.
President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Gilani, former Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi and Secretary Commerce Zafar Mehmood had visited Brussels, headquarters of the EU, to fight for Pakistan's case.
The EU had requested for this waiver in October 2010 to help Pakistan recover from the economic effects of the floods that hit Pakistan in the summer of 2010. Under the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) principle of the WTO, no member can give a unilateral trade concession to a country or group of countries without extending the same concession to all members of the WTO. A departure from the MFN principle requires a waiver. A unilateral grant of trade concessions by the EU to Pakistan, therefore, needed a waiver.
An official statement, issued by the Commerce Ministry, said that getting such a waiver from the WTO was extremely difficult, especially since no precedent existed where a waiver was granted to a country to address the economic effects of a natural calamity. The EU's request for a waiver was blocked by various countries. After hectic negotiations between the EU, Pakistan and these countries the concerns of these countries were addressed through a revised request by the EU which retained all the products of the original proposal.
The EU concessions and passage of the WTO waiver is the result of intense diplomatic efforts of the Government of Pakistan. The President and the Prime Minister during the Pakistan-European Union Summits held in 2010 and 2011 in Brussels underlined the need for Pakistan's enhanced market access to the EU as part of Government of Pakistan's strategy of "trade not aid". The Prime Minister wrote to his counterpart in Bangladesh, seeking support for WTO waiver.
Commerce Minister Amin Fahim visited Geneva twice to hold discussions with his counterparts. He also wrote to his counterparts in several countries making a case for Pakistan by elaborating how the proposed concessions will not adversely impact their vital interests in the EU, said an official announcement.
During the CTG meeting on February 1, 2012, representatives from Saudi Arabia, Peru, Brazil, Bangladesh and Indonesia made speeches in support of the trade package.