ISLAMABAD, April 28: Pakistan has urged the United States to offer tariff concessions on import of goods similar to those which Washington granted to five blocks of the world. Officials told Dawn on Thursday that a formal request for the tariff concessions on Pakistan’s goods was made during a recent visit of senior Pakistani officials to Washington.

The US has already offered the tariff concession arrangements to Andean countries — Bolivia, Columbia, Ecuador, Peru; AGOA-37 countries; EU member countries; CAFTA — five countries, and Asean-member countries.

Under those arrangements, the average tariff on imports of Andean countries into the US stood at 0.3 per cent; AGOVA 0.3 per cent; EU 1.5 per cent; CAFTA 2.9 per cent; and Asean 3.1 per cent.

However, the average tariff on import of Pakistani goods into the US was the highest and stood at 10.5 per cent.

The officials said that Pakistan had also requested the US authorities to consider qualified industrial zones (QIZs) arrangement for Islamabad and Kabul. Under this arrangement, products produced in such zones could be exportable to the US market duty free or at a preferential tariff.