Pakistan lobbying for cut in tariffs: Industrial goods
By Mubarak Zeb Khan
ISLAMABAD, Oct 11: Pakistan has tabled a proposal on industrial goods relating to tariff reduction formula and treatment of unbound tariffs. A senior official told Dawn on Tuesday that Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan was lobbying for acceptance of Islamabad’s proposal for reduction of tariffs on industrial goods.
“If it is accepted, it would mean reduction of tariffs on our exports of textiles and clothing by more than 60 per cent,” added the official.
Elaborating further, the official said that Pakistan was proposing a simple Swiss formula with two distinct coefficients for developed and developing countries. These coefficients should be based on an objective criterion.
This criterion could be based upon taking the over all average of tariff rates for developed and developing countries as their respective coefficients, the official added.
Pakistan proposal was a bold and ambitious one, but acceptable proposal on non-agriculture market access (NAMA), the official said.
The WTO’s Trade Negotiating Committee (TNC), which has overall responsibility for negotiations, was meeting on October 13 to take stock of the progress made and to provide guidance for the final phase of negotiations.
Pakistan is being represented by a high-level delegation led by Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan. Other members of the delegation include Secretary Commerce Syed Asif Shah; Ambassador to WTO Dr Manzoor Ahmed; Economic Minister at Brussels Tariq Puri and Joint Secretary Qasim Niaz.
An official announcement issued here said that in preparation for the Hong Kong WTO Ministerial meeting in December 2005, the commerce ministers from several key countries have gathered in Geneva. They have been holding meetings in various formats to find a way out of blockade of WTO negotiations.
Besides seeking reforms of agricultural trade rules, Pakistan is also keen on seeking steep tariff reduction on its exports of manufactured goods in the markets of developed countries.
The delegation also attended an important G-20 Ministerial meeting, which was held at the Brazilian Mission. Based on the G-20 Ministerial Declaration, which was adopted at Bhurban on September 10, 2005, ministers reviewed the progress made on the objectives outlined in that Declaration and also discussed their future strategy for achieving those agreed objectives in agricultural negotiations.
Pakistan’s delegation is also holding meetings with Geneva and Brussels based lawyers and EU’s senior officials to seek possible review of recent EU decision regarding levy of anti-dumping duty on bedlinen from Pakistan.
