ISLAMABAD, Oct 25: Speakers at a workshop stressed on creating greater awareness among the business community about countervailing duties, law and procedures to protect the production of local industries against unfair trade.

This was the consensus of majority of the speakers at a workshop on countervailing duties, law and procedures. It was jointly organized by National Tariff Commission and Islamabad Chambers of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) here on Saturday.

The NTC chairman, Faizullah Khilji, said it was in the interest of the business community to enlighten themselves about the WTO rules to duly protect their business against the unfair foreign trade.

“We should see how we make a best use of these rules to protect industries against cheaper imports from other countries,” he said.

He said in Pakistan tariffs had already been scaled down to a level which, he said, provided a chance for cheaper imports which might cause harm to local productions.

The chairman stressed upon the business community to keep themselves aware of these rules to protect their business in due timing.

The ICCI president, Zubair Ahmed Malik, said the developed countries were highly subsidizing their products, particularly, agriculture products, which they could easily dump in the markets of developing countries.

He said due to heavy subsidy in the developed countries, it was feared that it might cause harm to the local industries of the developing countries.

He said the subject matter of WTO regime was fairly exhaustive and it required a thorough understanding of its implications for Pakistan’s economy, trade and industrialization.

Member NTC, Mumtaz Haider Rizvi, said the workshop was aimed at increasing general awareness of trade defence industry available under the WTO to Agreement on Subsidies and Countervailing Measures (ASCM) and Pakistan’s countervailing duty ordinance, 2001.

The other speakers briefed the participants about the remedies available to Pakistani manufacturers and exporters against subsidized imports. Specifics of questionnaires required to be submitted to the NTC were also explained.