The Nation (23/11/2018) - ISLAMABAD:- Pakistan and Thailand would present their complete final list of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in coming round of negotiations to be held by end of December, 2018 aimed at increasing trade liberalisation between the two countries.

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Both the sides had exchanged the final offer lists of items for free trade, including automobile and textile sectors in order to remove the reservations of both sectors, a senior official of Ministry of Commerce and Textile said. Replying to a question, he said that Pakistan would get benefits of $250 million after signing the free trade agreement (FTA) with Thailand.

He said that Pakistan wants concession on 115 products on textiles, agro-products, plastic and Pharmaceuticals as the same was granted by Thailand to other FTA partners in these products.

He said that Pakistan had relative advantages over Thailand in some 684 commodities including cotton yarn and woven textiles, ready-made garments, leather products, surgical instruments and sports goods.

While talking on second phase of Pak-China FTA, he said China had agreed to provide market access to 60 items, shared by Pakistan besides providing concession on all items included in the offer list. “We want the concession on 70 export oriented items and low tariff line on products to ensure further trade liberalization in second phase of FTA between the two countries,” he said.

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The official said that Pakistan was desirous to have duty relaxation on 70 products before launching the phase-II as the same was given by China to ASEAN countries.

Replying to another question, he said the government is working on  the National Tariff Policy for the coming five years as part of the Strategic Trade Policy Framework (STPF) 2018-23 for reviewing tariff lines to enhance country's trade.

The tariff policy draft recommends a gradual reduction in the duty on raw material and machinery imports for export-oriented industries and further tariff slabs are proposed to be fixed at 5 percent, 10 percent,15 percent and 20 percent, the Ministry's official said.