China agrees to accommodate Pakistan’s concerns on FTA

ISLAMABAD: China has agreed to accommodate the concerns and demands of Pakistan in amended Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between both the countries in order to further enhance the bilateral trade and commerce relations.

The consensus to this regard was developed during the 9th round of negotiations on China Pakistan FTA (CPFTA) held at China, where the Pakistani delegation led by Secretary Commerce Mohammad Younus Dagha presented the demands of Pakistani exporters and industries for accommodating in the final draft of the CPFTA.

According to a press release issued by the Ministry of Commerce here on Friday, the amended FTA is expected to be signed in March this year when the Chinese Vice Minister will visit Islamabad along with his delegation.

The Chinese side was led by Wang Shouwen, Vice Minister, Ministry of Commerce, Peoples Republic of China and consist of 16 officials of various Chinese ministries.

The demands included those from exporters to provide tariff concessions equivalent to the ASEAN countries. On the other hand, various industries and chambers had provided input to the Ministry of Commerce during pre-negotiations consultations, for protection of the local industry from Chinese imports by disallowing tariff concessions on several products.

Secretary Commerce also suggested for incorporating clauses for safeguarding the industries and the economy from any undue pressure on the balance of payments position.

Chinese side also agreed on Electronic Data Exchange which will help rescuing the chances of under invoicing, another major concern of Pakistani industry.

After intense negotiations for two days, the Chinese side agreed to accommodate these concerns and demands in the amended FTA which is expected to be signed in March when the Chinese Vice Minister will visit Islamabad along with his delegation.

It may be mentioned that these negotiations had started in 2012 to finalize the revised version of CPFTA, it added.