Revised Pak-China FTA to be implemented from Jan 1

ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce announced on Monday that the tariff concessions under Phase-II of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) would be implemented between the governments of Pakistan and China from 1st January 2020.

The protocol to amend the CPFTA-II had entered into force on 1st December 2019 through a notification. Pakistan Today had earlier reported that that the revised FTA would be implemented by January 2020.

As per the commerce ministry officials, the CPFTA-II shall immediately eliminate tariffs on 313 tariff lines of Pakistan’s export interest, giving Pakistani exports a preferential treatment, similar to that given to the ASEAN region. These 313 tariff lines cover over $8.7 billion worth of Pakistan’s global export and $64 billon worth of global Chinese imports.

Moreover, this would result in 75pc of total trade liberalisation for Pakistan in terms of tariff lines and 92pc in terms of trade volume.

Ghulam Abbas
Ghulam Abbas
The writer is a member of the staff at the Islamabad Bureau. He can be reached at [email protected]

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