ISLAMABAD, June 9: The European Commission (EC) will consider Pakistan's demand for inclusion of super basmati in the abatment list. Well-placed sources told Dawn on Wednesday that the EC is scheduled to start negotiations by June 30 in Brussels for finalizing the super basmati issue for possible inclusion in the duty concessional list.

According to the sources to develop consensus among the stakeholders and to finalize recommendations, the ministry of commerce has convened a meeting on June 11 in Islamabad.

The meeting will be attended by the stakeholders including ministries of commerce, agriculture, food and livestock and rice exporters to finalize the stance on the issue, the sources added.

The EC had withdrawn super basmati from the abatement list effective from January 1, 2004, which resulted in levy of import duty at the rate of 250 euros per ton on import of super basmati in the EU member countries making Pakistani rice less competitive with those of coming from other countries.