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| April 18, 2007 | Wednesday | Rabi-ul-Awwal 29, 1428 |
Pakistan to get equal export opportunities
LAHORE, April 17: World Trade Organisation Director General Pascal Lamy has said that Pakistan will be provided a level-playing field for marketing its agriculture products in the developed world.
At a meeting of the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry here on Tuesday, he appreciated Pakistan’s role in all areas of negotiations, and said he fully understood the sensitivities of the country, and would be extending all-out support on the issue of tariff cuts on its exports such as textiles and clothing in current negotiations.
He said though there was not much progress made on issues in Doha Round, a five-year programme had been chalked out to deal with 20 items directly related to environmental goods. “The programme aims at facilitating reduction in tariffs on environmental goods and services. The discussion on industrial and agricultural tariffs as well agricultural subsidies have picked up momentum that would have a visible bearing on the trade of many countries,” he said and added that the WTO was trying to reach out all stakeholders to take them on board on the new developments.
He said there was a strong camp pushing for removal of subsidies on agriculture and fisheries sectors which was being resisted by some countries.
He suggested countries like Pakistan that have great potential to enhance their trade must prepare themselves to reap benefits of tariff reductions and removal of agriculture subsidies. He, however, made it clear that unless and until the US and the United Kingdom cut rate of subsidies and tariffs, the WTO Agri-talks would not move ahead.
He also urged Brazil, India and China to curtail their industries’ tariffs. “The issues of subsidies and industry and agriculture tariffs should be resolved in the larger interest of the developing world,” he said.
Expressing his concern over delay in provision of a level-playing field to the developing countries for marketing their agricultural products to the developed world, the LCCI President Shahid Hassan Sheikh said that Pakistan had fundamental interests in further strengthening the rules governing international agricultural trade, as agriculture was the backbone of its economy.
He said Pakistan enjoyed comparative advantage with regard to a number of agricultural commodities such as wheat, rice and cotton. However, the country had not been able to translate the advantage into enhanced production and exports due to inadequate infrastructure, lack of value addition technologies and restricted access to markets of developed countries, such as USA and EU.
He said Pakistan’s agricultural exports faced competition from the local products in developed countries, which were subsidised not only at the market stage but also at the production level. Besides these subsidies, he said, the developed countries had high tariff and non-tariff barriers that barred Pakistan from increasing its agricultural exports to these countries.
He said anti-dumping duty were another area of serious concern for Pakistani business community. “We are often been subjected to anti-dumping duties. How can the private sector industries sell below cost?. We hope that the Doha round can make the necessary changes so that there is no arbitrary levy of anti-dumping duties.”
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