19 May 2004	Wednesday	28 Rabi-ul-Awwal 1425

ISLAMABAD, May 18: Pakistan and Turkey are likely to give, initially, duty concessions on some 50 to 80 tradable items under the proposed Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between the two countries.

Well-placed sources told Dawn on Monday that a high level Turkish trade delegation is arriving on May 24 to discuss the draft PTA with the Pakistani technical team.

During the four-day stay in Pakistan, the technical teams of the two countries would discuss the draft agreement for developing consensus on the articles. Pakistan has already sent a copy of the draft agreement to the Turkish authorities for their review.

Pakistan and Turkey had signed the PTA framework agreement during President General Pervez Musharraf's visit to Turkey in January 2004. According to the sources, the ministers of the two countries were expected to sign the PTA in July this year.

This would be followed by an exchange of request lists asking for reduction of duty on around 50-80 items initially at the 6th digit level HS code for consideration, which would form the basis for further trade negotiations and offering tariff concessions, the sources said.

Similarly, rules of origin mutually negotiated and finalized by the two sides would form an integral part of the agreemente also considering a proposal to design a new trade development strategy including elimination of non-tariff barriers for each other.

Under the framework agreement, it was also agreed that upon entry into the ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA) signed during the second ministerial meeting of the ministers of the ECO at Islamabad on July 17, 2003, the preferences exchanged under the agreement shall be maintained; both the sides agreed to apply across the board tariff concession of 25 per cent.