The yet to be finalised free trade agreement (FTA) with Turkey will increase textile exports from Pakistan, commerce minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has said.
In a statement, the minister said the government would hold extensive talks with stakeholders before finalising the FTA with Turkey in order to strike the best possible deal.
Both countries had agreed to sign FTA during the recent visit of Turkish Prime Minister Ahmet Davutoglu to Pakistan. The FTA, which is expected to be signed in two years time, will enhance bilateral trade to US$ 10 billion from existing volume of $650 million.
Dastgir Khan said all future FTAs will be based upon market research and experiences from the previous trade agreements. The ministry of commerce is conducting review study of Pakistan’s FTAs with China, Sri Lanka and Malaysia to understand the effects of these agreements on the country’s economy as well as exports and imports.
The ministry is also scrutinising the mechanism adopted in the past to conclude FTAs and will adopt modern best practices of negotiations for future FTAs.
The minister said many countries were resorting to trade defence mechanisms instead of high tariffs in order to protect domestic manufacturing industry. He added that Pakistan was in the process of strengthening the institutional and human resource capacity of its trade defence organisations by empowering them through laws which would be implemented soon
