February 21, 2007	Wednesday	Safar 3, 1428

ISLAMABAD, Feb 20: Pakistan and China will start formal negotiations on services under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) during the up-coming visit of Pakistani prime minister to Beijing.

An official in the commerce ministry told Dawn on Tuesday that during the talks the experts from both sides would identify the areas for the services suppliers of both the countries.

Pakistan and China had inked the FTA covering products and investment, which would become operational from July 1, 2007. The services would be made part of the agreement after finalisation of negotiations.

The official said Pakistan would seek more commitments in maximum sectors to gain more market access for Pakistani services suppliers. “We would also be seeking foreign investment from China under the services sector negotiations,” the official added.

The potential areas for services liberalisation include finance, telecom, tourism, health, education, transportation, road, and energy distribution services. However, Pakistani services providers could get maximum benefits only in case China train local Pakistani employees.

The language would be one of the big barriers for Pakistani services providers in China under the proposed agreement.