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ISLAMABAD, Nov 6: The United States has agreed to remove quota restrictions on Pakistan’s man-made bedding products but declined to do away with discrepancies that restricted export of nine other textile categories to its market, authentic sources told Dawn on Wednesday.
The US, however, did not make any commitment to enhance Pakistan’s textile quota, a demand vigorously pursued by ministers for finance and commerce, although the two sides shared the conviction to expand trade relations for economic growth and poverty alleviation.
This was the outcome of a meeting between commerce minister Abdul Razak Dawood and visiting US undersecretary of state for economic and agriculture affairs Alan Larson, here on Wednesday.
The sources said quota restriction on textile category 666 was not applicable to any country in the world except Pakistan. The issue was raised by a trade leader, Aziz Memon, and Larson agreed to ensure that the discrepancy would be removed soon after his return to the US.
The US delegation, however, did not show any inclination to remove discrepancies identified during 1998-2000 period, particularly on six textile categories like 360, 361 and 363.
Sources said the US was ready to remove discrepancies of 2001-02, but did not agree to take any positive action regarding discrepancies of 1998-2000 notwithstanding an admission by Larson that the US businessmen were also worried over the discrepancies.
He accepted that the issue was also a big frustration in the US, but did not show any positive signs in this regard. He asked Pakistan to explore commercial activities in Afghanistan and the US would support that process.
To this, a Pakistani textile entrepreneur proposed that they were ready to sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Afghanistan on the lines of Jordan-Israel pact, if the US and donor countries assisted Pakistan.
Another issue, sources said, was raised by the private sector regarding the imposition of restrictions on pillow cases, which was instrumental in hampering export of bedding products as export of pillows were restricted and bedsheets were allowed in the US. Larson agreed to resolve the issue.
Sources quoted him as saying that growth of Pakistani exports to the US market was expected to reach 12.9 per cent in three years as against 6.9 per cent during the current fiscal and 6.39 per cent last year, respectively.
The US official also mentioned the “special package” extended to Pakistan last year, involving $142 million three annual instalments to Pakistan.
RAZAK DAWOOD: Later, talking to journalists, commerce minister Abdul Razak Dawood termed the discussion on trade-related issues very fruitful and positive.
“We have discussed a wide range of topics, deliberations were very positive and our working group will meet in Washington on Dec 10 for further discussions,” he said.
Both sides, he said, also deliberated on issues relating to the World Trade Organisation (WTO) as Pakistan and the United States had a lot of areas of commonality, as the final round of WTO would be completing in Mexico next year.
“We also talked about how to get the US and Pakistan on a win-win situation and how the two countries can open up the issues beyond textile,” he said, adding that both sides discussed matters relating to textile sector and some other issue which were currently under discussion.
The commerce minister said Pakistan was interested in getting greater market access and the Americans were looking positive on the issues and few points were in Pakistan’s favour.
REGIONAL TRADE: He said the two sides discussed agricultural trade and the subsidies the US government was providing to the sector. Larson, who came here from Kabul, said the US believed that trade within the region should expand and Pakistan should strengthen its trade ties with Afghanistan and other countries in the area.
