ISLAMABAD: The Senate Standing Committee on Commerce was informed on Thursday that an agreement was reached with Iran regarding barter trade.

This was stated by commerce secretary Sualeh Faruqi in response to a question of Senator Fida Mohammad. The meeting was chaired by Senator Zeeshan Khanzada.

Mr Sualeh said due to lack of banking channels with Iran, some issues existed in trading with Tehran. The barter trade issue with Iran has been resolved, he informed. He further said that barter trade with Iran would start in a month.

The commerce secretary informed the Senate committee that being on the grey list had not any repercussions on Pakistan’s exports.

Commerce Adviser Razak Dawood briefed the committee on the GSP+ scheme. He noted that Pakistan’s exports to Europe have reached $9 billion mainly due to preferential access.

Mr Dawood informed the committee that the European Union (EU) was assuaged with Pakistan’s implementation of the GSP+ terms. Pakistan had kowtowed with most of the 27 conventions. He underlined that Pakistan had already addressed issues like eradication of child labour, freedom of speech, rights of journalists, rights of women, and others as per assigned indicators.

He asserted that the EU asked for expanding the range of exports to the European markets but exports to the region have not inflated as they should have because of weaknesses of our exporters.

Responding to a question, Mr Dawood remarked that under GSP+, 66 per cent of Pakistan’s tariff lines were on zero duties. EU exports increased by 47pc, he said, adding that trade with the EU is in Pakistan’s interest.

Published in Dawn, November 19th, 2021