Pakistan, China Aim to Enhance Tariff Concessions to 90 Percent
[2011-03-25 10:43:00]
Pakistan and China will begin bilateral talks in the second phase of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) on March 10, 2011 for enhancing tariff concessions from existing 36 percent to 90 percent, a senior official of the commerce ministry said on March 9, 2011.
A two-day dialogue at the federal capital will finalise the modalities of FTA for the next phase and will also review the first phase of the FTA, the official told The News.
Pakistan and China signed a free trade agreement on Nov 24, 2006. The base year for tariff reduction or elimination was 2006 for China and 2006-07 for Pakistan.
The commerce ministry official said that both sides achieved the set target of 36 percent tariff elimination on tradable items in the first phase of FTA.
The second phase of FTA will aim at tariff concessions of up to 90 percent for the next five years ending in 2017. The remaining 10 percent will be included in "no concession list", said the official.
Both sides will also chalk out a strategy to convert the region into free trade area by 2017, he added. The first installment concession of this second phase will begin from 2013.
Besides this second phase of FTA, the commerce ministry will continue to pursue Chinese authorities for concessions on an already forwarded list of 286 items, he added.
China has placed 2,681 tariff lines in category-I, 2,604 tariff lines in category-II, 604 tariff lines in category-III and 529 tariff lines in category-IV.
The category-V with 1,132 tariff lines will have no concession.
Pakistan has placed 2,423 tariff lines in category-I, 1,338 tariff lines in category-II, 157 tariff lines in category-III, 1,768 tariff lines in category-IV, 1,025 tariff lines in category-V and 92 tariff lines in category-VI.
Pakistan's trade deficit with China swelled from $2.95 billion in 2006-07 to $4.01 billion in 2007-08, fell to $3.39 billion in 2008-9 and again rose to $3.43 billion in 2009-10.
The commodities which registered a phenomenal growth from China include machinery and parts, chemical elements and compounds, fertiliser manufactured, yarn and synthetic fibres and construction material.
Source: Thenews.com
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