ISLAMABAD: As Pakistan and China are going to hold another round of talks on revising Free Trade Agreement (FTA) next month, Pakistan has demanded relaxed tariff of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) from China to relatively balance bilateral trade.
“China will extend every support to Pakistan treating it as a friendly and neighbouring country. We can give maximum relaxation on trade but to the extent of what the market allows,” Chinese ambassador to Pakistan Yao Jing said while addressing a news conference along with Minister for Commerce and Textile Industry Pervaiz Malik here on Tuesday. The envoy said Pakistan as a neighbour, definitely occupies a special position in China’s policy, adding that China will do whatever is required to promote Pakistan’s exports.
“The difficulty we face is to identify items to be imported from Pakistan. This is why I suggest Pakistani exporters to visit China for exploring its commodity markets. Similarly, China will like to send purchasing delegations to identify more items for the bilateral trade,” he further added.
“China will love to buy Pakistani products and will endorse whatever competitive products Pakistan introduces in the Chinese markets,” he said.
The Chinese ambassador said that “This year Pakistan and China will hold another round of FTA. I understand that there are concerns from private sector and manufacturers on Pakistan’s side on the FTA. China considers Pakistan a special partner and it will never like to damage its industry through this kind of bilateral agreement. Our intention is to have a more convenient and facilitating mechanism of bilateral trade. We want to encourage and facilitate trade cooperation on principles of following Pakistan’s convenience, concerns and satisfying its requirements.”
Yao Jing informed that he had discussed with the Commerce Minister some ideas to ‘ease and relax’ visa mechanism for Pakistani businessmen especially exporters so that they can have a better understanding about trade opportunities in China.
He further informed that the Chinese embassy and counsellor generals would have regular meetings with the Ministry of Commerce to encourage all exporters and businessmen to further strengthen the bilateral trade.
Answering a question, the envoy assured that the Chinese government would accommodate and extend maximum concessions possible to Pakistani products under the FTA.
The envoy said that in the long term, China will support Pakistan establish special economic zones which would help increase Pakistan’s capacity to manufacture quality products for export to international markets.
He also sought specific suggestions from Pakistan to attract Chinese manufactures to invest in Pakistan’s industrial sector.
Replying to a question, the Commerce Secretary Muhammad Younus Dhaga said that the last round of the FTA held in Beijing was very positive as the issues highlighted by Pakistan were taken well by the Chinese side. He said Pakistan has demanded the relaxation of tariff on a number of items as per the treatment given to ASEAN members by China.
Meanwhile, Chinese ambassador invited Pakistan to attend a six-day international ‘Import Expo’ scheduled to be held at its National Exhibition and Convention Centre, Shanghai from November 5 to 10 this year.
