Pakistan-Indonesia PTA to be signed next year

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan-Indonesia Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA), expected to be signed in the first quarter of 2011, would give the necessary impetus to bilateral trade. This was stated by Pakistan Ambassador to ASEAN and Indonesia Sanaullah, while delivering a public lecture on “Pakistan-Indonesia Economic Cooperation”, at the country’s premier National University (UNAS), Jakarta, received a press release on Wednesday.
He said that the recent visit by Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi to Indonesia and meeting with his counterpart Marty Natalegawa would be conducive for the process leading to signing of PTA. Once the agreement was in force he said, it would escalate bilateral trade to around $2.0 billion within two years.
Replying to questions from the students and faculty, the Ambassador said that foreign investment was well protected in Pakistan. In fact, Pakistan and Indonesia had agreements on protection of investment as well as avoidance of double taxation treaty which formed the basis of a cordial investment atmosphere.
He invited Indonesian businessmen and companies to invest in Pakistan. The Ambassador considered agriculture as an important sector for enhancing economic cooperation. He said that Pakistan could offer fruits, cotton, cotton yarn, cement and sugar manufacturing plants or their parts, an area where Indonesia was lagging behind.
He also pointed out steel, steel products, surgical instruments as possible imports from Pakistan. He maintained that Pakistan would look for Indonesian palm oil and furniture besides other products. Indonesian food was the new rage in Pakistan, something the Indonesian businessmen should focus on, the Ambassador said.
On a question regarding increase of bilateral cooperation in 2011, Ambassador Sanaullah said that during the visit of Foreign Minister Shah Mehmood Qureshi, a road map of activities had been agreed by both sides. He said that already three major events had taken place that included Pakistan’s ministerial level participation in the Bali Democracy Forum, realising of second meeting of the Joint Working Group on counter terrorism and the visit of Pakistan’s Naval Chief to Indonesia.
He said a senior parliamentary delegation would leave soon for Pakistan with the objective of exploring business opportunities. Besides, there was hope for the PTA to be concluded in the first quarter of 2011 and all this would help strengthen economic linkages, the Ambassador added. Regarding the issue of terrorism, Ambassador Sanaullah said that Pakistan had carried out a long struggle to eliminate this menace. It had achieved results but this was an ongoing effort and the problem could not be resolved in days. Pakistan had suffered over 35000 casualties and lost billions of dollars to this war. But Pakistanis had withstood the challenge with courage, he commented. He believed that coercion or force alone would not resolve the problem of terrorism.