ISLAMABAD, June 22: The United States and the European Union will jointly carry out a survey in Pakistan to measure the quantum of violation of intellectual property rights (IPRs).
A commerce ministry official told Dawn on Wednesday that US officials had informed Commerce Secretary Tasneem Noorani in a meeting held recently that Washington was not satisfied with the steps so far taken by Islamabad for the elimination of piracy in the country.
The US and the EU would soon start a survey to measure the quantum of infringed IPRs before entering into any preferential market access programme with Pakistan, added the official.
Briefing the US officials, the secretary commerce said that two major irritants, which had impeded progress in strengthening bilateral economic relations between Pakistan and the US, had been removed and it was now time to focus on deepening bilateral relations.
He said that Pakistan had established an independent IPRs institution and also conducted a series of raids on the suspected factories involved in the business of pirated CDs.
The US administration would respond to these measures shortly and an announcement was possible during Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz’s visit to Washington next month, the official added.
According to the official, the US had also rejected Pakistan’s request for preferential market access for its textile products. “Washington will not consider any textile related product and 50 minor products under any referential trade agreement with Pakistan.”
Following this, Islamabad then requested Washington to give preferential access for those textile products which are not manufactured locally. According to the official, the US had, however, offered Pakistan to include maximum non-traditional items under the US Generalized System of Preferences (GSP) scheme —zero rate of duty.
Pakistan would soon work out a list of items to be sent to the US for inclusion in the GSP scheme, the official adds.
