Terming the deal a major breakthrough for the country’s exports, Tariq Puri, Chief Executive of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) said government’s strategy for seeking trade not aid succeeded on Wednesday. “This is the first achievement and important achievement of the government to diversify and expand trade through getting market access to European Union”, he said. After the achievement, TDAP would support exporters of the 75 items through creating market awareness. The authority, he claimed, would highlight the importance of EU market and facilitate exporters. The objecting countries, mainly India and Bangladesh, were also convinced by the government during the last two years, since the draft proposal was forwarded to WTO in 2010.
According to sources, the antagonistic countries had also dropped their objections after EU had amended the scheme to use tariff rate quotas (TRQs) on 20 products, sources said. Availing the facility, sources said, the country would not only be able expand its exports but also save the exports of textile items from further drop. The duty waiver would affect Pakistan’s export products, including textiles, leather and others. Welcoming the move, Mohsin Aziz, Chairman All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (APTMA) said the 64 textile items would benefit. The market access and duty relaxation would definitely help expand exports this year, which were feared to drop drastically owing to the massive energy crisis. APTMA, he said, had written multiple letters and reminders to the concerned authorities to speed up efforts for convincing the objecting countries for the package approval at WTO.