First round of Pak-EU talks on FTA in February

[LahoreEstate]

LAHORE (November 01 2009): The European Union has finally agreed to initiate talks on free trade agreement (FTA) with Pakistan and the first round of negotiations would be held in February 2010. Commerce Secretary Salman Ghani disclosed this while speaking at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) here on Saturday.

He said that it was a big achievement and the result of hectic efforts on the part of the government that would help pave the way for a duty-free access to the European Union. Salman said that he had a strong hope that in two years' time the free trade agreement with the European Union would be finalised. He also told the business community of Lahore that the United States was more interested in Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZs) than the free market access.

On Afghan transit trade, the Commerce Secretary said that two rounds of talks had already been completed and the private sector would be taken on board for the removal of their apprehensions regarding smuggling. He said the government was convinced that the LCCI was supplementing its efforts for the economic well being of the country, and added that in the trade policy all the eight proposals, forwarded by the LCCI, had been incorporated.

He also assured the LCCI President of his full support regarding the LCCI business census of Lahore as the fact remained that correct data would help pave the way for sector specific decision-making. Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry threw light on the idea of business census of Lahore, and said the proposed census would help strengthen the government database that was a need of the hour.

He said the government should continue to strengthen further its liaison with the business community, which would help in creating better understanding between the stakeholders and provide them much needed opportunity to get instant feedback on issues of vital national importance. He said that recent visit of US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton to Pakistan was being termed as a successful in the government circles.

But the fact, he said, was that during her meetings with high government officials and media personnel, she had not directly assured of any memorandum of understanding (MoU) signing or any trade agreement with Pakistan. He said that today, the country was passing through the most critical times of its history.

The LCCI President said that Pakistan needed direct market access to the US and European Union. "The European Union is Pakistan's largest trading partner and is being proactively pursued for greater market access," he added. He said it was a good omen that the European Union had expressed willingness to discuss free trade agreement (FTA) with Pakistan.

He urged the Commerce Minister to find immediate solutions to economic problems. Zafar Chaudhry said that energy shortage had practically pushed industry to the wall and if timely steps were not taken, the situation would go out of control. He suggested that the government should seek foreign expertise in the small hydro units and alternative energy units, as Pakistani market urgently needed to develop and upgrade this sector. "If this is positively done, most of the existing problems will be resolved," he added

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