Pakistan, Sri Lanka to exchange fresh lists: Free trade pact
By Our Reporter
ISLAMABAD, Dec 2: Pakistan and Sri Lanka have agreed to exchange fresh lists of items to be considered for duty reduction to conclude the much awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.
Informed sources told Dawn on Thursday that decision was taken during the meeting of the senior officials of the two countries held recently in Islamabad. The Sri Lankan official delegation was led by its commerce secretary.
During the meeting both the sides agreed to exchange the lists latest by December 15 through the diplomatic channels. According to the sources, the items would be offered to each other for duty reduction following seeking consultation of the stakeholders on it.
Pakistan has offered to Sri Lanka Tariff Reduced Quotas (TRQs) on tea, betel nuts and betel leaves under the FTA. However, Islamabad asked for similar concessions on its export of rice, potatoes and onions to Colombo.
According to the sources, Islamabad has also withdrawn its items of garment sector and other textile related products from the concession lists previously offered to the Sri Lanka.
The sources said that this was a major decision, which would now provide a protection to the local garment sector against the cheapest imports of garments from Sri Lanka. The Sri Lankan authorities, the sources said had agreed to this decision, however, they demanded TRQs in certain textile sectors to be mentioned in the proposed fresh list of items for duty reduction.
According to the sources, that it was likely that the agreement would be operational within the next two to three months. The issue got momentum following the visit of Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz to Colombo recently.
According to these sources, the Sri Lankan government is believed to be reluctant to sign a FTA in a hurry until they got maximum benefits from Pakistan. The FTA framework agreement was signed by the two sides in 2002 during the visit of President General Pervez Musharraf to Sri Lanka. But it is yet to be finalized and implemented.
The then commerce minister Abdul Razak Dawood was due to hold final round of meetings with the Sri Lankan trade authorities scheduled for October 22-24, 2002 to finalize the agreement, but it was postponed as power transfer was taking place from army to the elected government in Pakistan.
