WTO member countries should facilitate waiver for Pakistan: European delegation

ISLAMABAD: The European parliamentary delegation supported Pakistan and mentioned that WTO member countries should facilitate the waiver for Pakistan and other disasters struck countries while responding to the demand of Pakistani delegation in a two-day conference being held in Geneva.

Earlier, a parliamentary delegation headed by Senator Ahmad Ali called for enhancement in trade access of Pakistani goods to the international market in general and European regional market in particular.

The Parliamentary delegation comprising Senator Ahmed Ali, Senator Gulshan Saeed, Senator Abdul Razik, Senator Malik Salahuddin Dogar, MNA Ch. Zahid Iqbal and MNA Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur is currently in Geneva to attend the Annual 2011 session of the Parliamentary Conference on the WTO from March 21-22.

Speaking on behalf of the delegation, MNA Nawab Abdul Ghani Talpur mentioned that multilateralism was the only solution to cater for the international trade distorting practices according to a fax message received here on Tuesday.

He further said that trend for developed and emerging economies to join together in regional trade agreement was against the declared objectives of the Morocco Agreement.

Advocating an active role of WTO in international trade facilitation for countries affected by natural disasters, he called for support from all the WTO members to the European Union (EU) waiver for Pakistani products.

While responding to these comments, the panelists highlighted that the process of facilitating WTO waiver for Pakistan was still under process and there was need for an early conclusion of the matter.

The Conference also discussed the rebalancing of the rules of the multilateral trading system and trade sustainable development.