ISLAMABAD, July 7: Two local manufacturers of motorcycles and PVC pipes have asked the commerce ministry to negotiate with the Sri Lankan authorities for the withdrawal of these products from the duty concession list of the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) effective from June 12, 2005.

Well-placed sources told Dawn that the ministry had sent the request to the Sri Lankan authorities for consideration to provide protection to the local manufacturers of these products.

The decision about the withdrawal of the PVC pipes from the duty concession list had yet to be taken place, as there was no positive response from the Sri Lankan authorities on the issue, added the sources.

According to the sources, the commerce ministry allowed duty free import of PVC pipes along with 50cc to 250cc motorcycles from Sri Lanka under the FTA.

The sources claimed that Sri Lanka authorities had apparently agreed with Pakistan to withdraw and put only 50cc to 250cc motorcycles under the negative list of the FTA.

There may be many items, which were considered duty free under the FTA, which were not yet identified by the local manufacturers as they might have not gone through the lists so far, which were posted only on CBR’s website (www.cbr.gov.pk).

“This shows the ministry is not serious in interacting with the local manufacturers before going to negotiate any preferential treatment with any country”, the sources claimed.

The FTA framework agreement was signed by the two sides in 2002 during the visit of President Pervez Musharraf to Sri Lanka. “In a period of over three years, the commerce ministry even did not manage to consult every local manufacturers of all products which resulted into inclusion of these products in the concessional list”, the sources said.

There was a need that the government should ensure in future better interaction between the commerce ministry and the private sector before going to give any duty concession to any country, sources said.

When asked a senior official in the commerce ministry about the issue, he said that the ministry had sent letters to the chambers and trade associations to interact with the exporters and manufacturers about the items to be considered for duty reduction under the FTA.