August 06, 2006	Sunday	Rajab 10, 1427

ISLAMABAD, Aug 5: Pakistan and Thailand will conclude a free trade agreement (FTA) by the end of the current fiscal year.

A senior official told Dawn on Saturday that Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz during his brief stopover in Thailand after attending the OIC executive committee meeting in Malaysia had raised the issue with his Thai counterpart for the early finalisation of FTA to increase the current level of trade between the two countries.

A technical team will be leaving for Thailand to further negotiate the draft treaty. The two sides already held two rounds of talks on the proposed FTA. Moreover, both the countries also constituted study groups for identifying potential products for reduction of duties and taxes under the treaty.

Pakistan’s export of fisheries products could grab the Thai market because of huge consumption of seafood in that country, the official said, adding that the fish production in Thailand was not sufficient to meet the domestic consumption.

The two countries could also exchange expertise in many areas, including the tourism sector.