Meeting on 14th: ‘Council may give approval to EU package’

TAHIR AMIN

ISLAMABAD: The European Union (EU) Council is likely to give approval to the EU package in its upcoming meeting to mitigate the effects of floods on Pakistan economy.

Meeting of the Council is scheduled to be held on March 14, 2012, informed sources told Business Recorder.

This was announced in a meeting of all the stakeholders called by the Ministry of Textile Industry to discuss Tariff Rate Quota (TRQs) administration under European Union concession here on Tuesday, informed sources said.

The EU has imposed a quota on 14 textile items. The EU commission proposed a list of textile and non-textile items for a time bound suspension of customs tariff on limited tariff lines.

During the meeting Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) gave a presentation to textile stakeholders about the different EU regulations related to EU TRQs. Textile stakeholders were informed that Tariff Rate Quota (TRQ) would be managed by the EU and further explained EU regulation 717/2008 and EU regulation 1232/2011.

The Authority informed the participants that any one of the option in 717, 1232 or a hybrid of any options will be decided by the EU in its meeting probably scheduled for March 14, 2012.

The ministry sought the opinion of all the participants regarding quota administration, where all of them expressed satisfaction over the government steps in this regard. The authority further explained that EU would also decide about the date of implementation in this meeting; however it is not yet confirmed that the matter is included in the agenda.

They were further informed that the European Council while drafting the proposed tariff lines has taken into account industrial sensitivity in the EU and those of partners in the WTO. The proposal is considered to be a breakthrough in Pakistan’s trade negotiations.

The proposed preference would liberalize 75 tariff lines accounting for around 27 percent of total export to EU. An increase in export of euro 1000 million is expected, sources added.