ISLAMABAD, Pakistan: Pakistan wants to initiate negotiation with South East Asian nations on proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) for enhancing the multilateral trade and competitiveness in Country’s trade, a senior official of Ministry of Commerce said.
Talking to the state-run news agency in Islamabad on Tuesday, the official said Countries including Indonesia, Vietnam, Philippines and Japan in Pacific region were also in list for starting dialogue on Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) leading towards FTA for promoting trade liberalization.
Replying to another question, he said Pakistan and Indonesia had agreed on concession for 20 different items during bilateral negotiation under PTA. He said both sides discussed 20 tariff lines, and Indonesia agreed to give concession on major exports from Pakistan including rice, textile, ethanol, Citrus (Kinnow) and mangoes during renegotiation on PTA.
The official said concession on 20 tariff lines was major success of Pakistan, and now Pakistani citrus’ export to Indonesia would increase from 18 to 35 million tones and mangoes exports would increase to 10 million tons in a year.
The Ministry of Commerce official said that before PTA, Indonesia had granted only two months for export of Pakistan’s Citrus and mangoes but now after renegotiation, Pakistan could export these fruits to Indonesia for the whole year and any time-limit was removed.
Replying to a question, he said Pakistan and Indonesia had current annual trade volume of $ 170 million which was expected to increases after renegotiation on PTA between the two countries.
The official said both the Countries agreed to expand PTA and go for a FTA between them. He said the Indonesia-Pakistan PTA was signed in February 2012.
Furthermore, he said the activation of the PTA followed the signing of a Mutual Recognition Agreement (MRA) on plant quarantine and Sanitary and Phytosanitary (SPS) measures between Indonesia and Pakistan.
The official said that through these steps, Pakistani agricultural products would gain greater market access in Indonesia. He said Pakistan wanted the same concessions from Indonesia which was getting from other countries like China, India, Sri Lanka and Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Countries.
