ISLAMABAD: Skilled human capital resources, competitive industrial sector and connection with global value chains are the only way forward to get more benefits from China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA), said Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) President Sardar Yasir Ilyas Khan.

Addressing a seminar on Bilateral Safeguards under China-Pakistan FTA and Trade Remedial Measure, organised by the National Tariff Commission (NTC) on Tuesday, said that there was a need to bring more investment from China in different sectors for industrial growth and economic turnaround in the country.

He said China was a large economy and industrialists must know about the items and tariff lines agreed in the CPFTA. He said the China-Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC) was a game-changer for infrastructural, industrial and agricultural development in the country.

He proposed that the joint ventures would not only benefit the economy but also enhance the skill of local labour.

He said that said that Pakistan had great potential to enhance agriculture productivity and the government should focus on exploiting the potential of this sector.

He said that we need to evolve short-, medium- and long-term strategy to set economic goals for the industrial and agriculture growth for evolving competitiveness.

NTC Member Anjum Asad Amin said that the CPFTA was a milestone for increasing the country’s exports.

She said the government prioritised protecting the local industrial sector and for this safeguards measures to be adopted in the final agreement.

Anjum said that both sides were also agreed for electronic data exchange inclusion to ensure the transparency mechanism in the CPFTA. Now both sides are bound to ensure the 95 per cent of electronic data exchange for mutual confidence, she added.

Published in Dawn, October 14th, 2020