To diversify its export market, Pakistan is keenly focusing on promoting bilateral trade with the two developed countries of New Zealand and Australia and a Pakistani delegation will be holding separate joint trade committee meetings with the two countries on March 15 and 20 respectively.
An official delegation, led by Secretary Commerce Zafar Mahmood has left for New Zealand to attend the inaugural session of Pak-New Zealand Joint Trade Committee (JTC) in Wellington. The JTC was established under a bilateral trade agreement signed in 1990. However, it could not hold its first meeting up till now. In the first meeting both sides will hold discussions to work out arrangements to enhance bilateral trade and identify areas for cooperation, especially in agriculture and dairy sectors.
Both sides will also deliberate on ways to establish institutional linkages between the two countries to achieve these objectives. New Zealand has a strong economy and with a per capita income of $27, 217 per annum, that can be a potential market for Pakistani exports.
The commerce secreatary will also lead a delegation for Pak-Australia Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting in Australia on March 20. The third meeting is going to take stock of the progress made on the decisions taken in the previous meetings. Both sides will also discuss the need for greater market access in the Australian market for Pakistani products. The marketing strategy for export of Pakistani mangoes to Australia will also be discussed. In the previous two meetings, both sides had deliberated on various issues of mutual interest including agriculture cooperation, avoidance of double taxation agreement, investment cooperation, capacity building, and developing institutional linkages between both countries. One of the major achievements of JTC meeting was the import risk analysis of Pakistani mangoes by Australia.
