Business community lauds signing of Pak-Turkey Strategic Economic Framework 

ISLAMABAD: Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) President Engr Daroo Khan Achakzai appreciated the efforts of the Pakistani and Turkish government to enter into a Strategic Economic Framework (SEF) for enhancement of bilateral relations in trade, tourism, healthcare, hospitality, industry, education, housing, agriculture, aviation and banking.

He stated that the main purpose of SEF is to enhance bilateral trade by five times from the current level of $800 million.

"In order to achieve this goal, it is expected that both governments may sign a free trade agreement during the current year," he said, adding that although Pakistan and Turkey are the members of ECO, D-8, CACCI and OIC, the existing trade doesn't do justice to the close bilateral relations.

He urged the Pakistani government to resolve/negotiate all anti-dumping barriers imposed by Turkey on Pakistani textile and other items before the signing of FTA, as these anti-dumping and safeguard measures reduced Pakistan's export to Turkey to $327 million from $850 million in 2011.

He said that textile and rice are the main exportable items of Pakistan facing high tariff rates in Turkey, adding that imposition of extra duty on Pakistani textile in terms of safeguard and anti-dumping makes the product uncompetitive.

He suggested that under the FTA, the government should demand the same duty structures on textile products which Turkey has given to Egypt and Jordan.