High potential export products: Turkish government urged to withdraw or reduce tariff

The business community of Southern Punjab has urged upon the Turkish government to withdraw or reduce tariff on its high potential export products to facilitate a brother Islamic country of Pakistan. President of Multan Chamber of Commerce& Industry (MCCI) Khawaja Jalaluddin Roomi said Turkey's FTA partners Egypt and Jordan enjoyed tariffs significantly lower than those currently faced by Pakistan; while the tariffs on Turkish exports, though high, were at par with those on the exports of Pakistan's FTA partners including China, Sri Lanka and Malaysia.
He said Turkey should avoid discrimination in tariff and it should facilitate its long-standing friend. He said Pakistan had potential to enhance its exports to Turkey up to $5 billion, with the greatest capacity of $329 million in the trade of instruments and appliances used in medical, surgical and veterinary sciences.
He further said Turkey had the potential to export $12.8 billion to Pakistan, with the greatest potential $346 million in trade of motor cars and other motor vehicles. Looking at the potential for both countries to increase their exports to each other, Turkey's export potential is over 2.5 times larger than Pakistan's export potential, he observed. He urged that negotiations needed to focus on tariff elimination across high potential exports, particularly those in which the exporter had a comparative advantage.