24 December 2004	Friday	11 Ziqa'ad 1425

ISLAMABAD, Dec 23: Pakistan and Sri Lanka have finalized the fresh list of items to be considered for duty reduction under the much awaited Free Trade Agreement (FTA) between the two countries.

Officials in the commerce ministry told Dawn on Thursday that the lists were finalized during the two days visit of senior Pakistani officials to Colombo recently.

It was agreed that Sri Lanka would give tariff reduced quotas (TRQs) to Pakistan on rice, oranges, orange juices, dates and potatoes. But they refused to give the same concession on Pakistani onions.

While in response to this, Pakistan would give TRQs on betal leaves and tea to Sri Lanka. Sri Lanka also demanded around 20 per cent concessions in duty on 20 tariff lines of textile products. These tariff lines were mostly related to undergarments, gowns, etc.

The officials said that these tariff lines would be discussed with the relevant stakeholders to seek their opinions on it before giving any duty concession to Sri Lanka on it.

Following this, the officials said that the protocol would soon be sent to the federal cabinet for seeking formal approval. According to the officials, the protocol would be signed during the forthcoming visit of the Sri Lankan President Chandrika Kumaratunga to Pakistan in January 2005. She probably visit Pakistan by January 12, 2005.

The officials said that Sri Lankan commerce minister was also scheduled to visit Pakistan next month to discuss with his counterpart the implementation status of the FTA. 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 finalised and implemented.