ISLAMABAD: In good news for Pakistan, the European Free Trade Association (EFTA) has agreed to commence the process for reaching a preferential trade agreement (PTA) with the country.
After reaching a PTA with EFTA, it will enable the trade volume to be doubled with the bloc, said a senior official in the commerce ministry, reports Dawn.
EFTA trading bloc includes Switzerland, Iceland, Norway and Lichtenstein and it involved a year-long effort to officially commence a dialogue regarding the preferential treaty.
The trading bloc has recommended undertaking a scoping exercise instead of a feasibility study which will result in a paper for conceivable negotiations on FTA.
Also, the EFTA has forwarded a template which profiles topics to become part of the paper.
And it is only possible for EFTA to provide tariff concessions on industrial goods under the recommend PTA.
The volume of imports plus exports between EFTA-Pakistan was recorded at $573 million in 2017.
Pakistan exported $218 million worth of goods to EFTA bloc, whilst the bloc exported $355 million in the same period.
The country’s exports mainly comprised of apparel articles and textiles, as imports from the EFTA bloc included machinery, watches and pharmaceutical products.
In October last year, Pakistan and EFTA had held their first meeting of the joint committee in Geneva, Switzerland.
The decision to consolidate deliberation for a PTA was the culmination of EFTA-Pakistan’s Joint Declaration on Cooperation which was reached on November 12th, 2012.
And merchandise trade amongst Pakistan and EFTA bloc has grown at a stable place in the last decade.
Pakistan’s exports to the trading bloc have recorded an average increase of 10.4 percent in the last five years.
