KARACHI – Pakistan may lose the current trend of rising exports, primarily textile, if trade concessions proposed by the European Union (EU) are not approved in the forth-coming meeting of World Trade Organisation (WTO). Disapproval of concessions would move foreign buyers, interested in the country’s products, to other countries.
The second WTO meeting, scheduled to be held on January 31, 2011, would discuss the EU proposals following serious reservations expressed by few countries in the previous meeting. Experts believe that foreign buyers, who have moved to Pakistan to enjoy zero tariffs, would certainly change their targets if the draft bill submitted by the EU was not approved by all members of WTO.
The high demand and surging textile product prices across the world had kept up the interest of foreign buyers. “If the concession is not approved, importers will definitely lose their interest and move to other markets especially in China and India, where the quality of products is comparatively better,” experts claimed. The main hurdle in approval is India’s strong objection to the additional autonomous trade preferences granted by EU in the previous WTO meeting.
Pakistan has successfully persuaded the European countries to facilitate it ollowing devastation caused by floods this year. Convincing India and alleviating its reservations is the next task for the government. Srilanka, Bangladesh and Brunei have also opposed the grant of concessions. India had maintained that a well meaning gesture by the EU would cause collateral damage to trade divergence and impact poor workers in less developed and developing nations.
In the wake of recent floods, the EU had announced a concession on customs duty for 75 products exported from Pakistan. However, the offer is yet to be approved by the European Parliament and it also faces opposition at the World Trade Organisation (WTO). Sources in the Ministry of Commerce claim that the government has stepped up efforts to plead the country’s case.
Consequently, Srilanka and Bangladesh have assured that they would not object concession to Pakistan in the forth-coming meeting, sources added. Earlier, Federal Minister for Textile Rana Farooq Khan also claimed that the country, besides using diplomatic channels to convince India, would approach the US to help approve the draft bill in the upcoming meeting.
