KARACHI: Pakistan will shortly start negotiations with the six countries of the European Common Market and Austria for the fixation of export quotas. This was revealed by Commerce Secretary Osman Ali yesterday while talking to newsmen here. He could not say exactly when the negotiations will start, but added that they would start as soon as “our case” is ready.

He said Pakistan has sent an aide-memoire to the UK on the likely effects that the latter’s entry into the ECM will have on the export trade of Pakistan. He said while Pakistan did not want to stand in the way of the UK joining the ECM, it wanted that its trading interests should be protected. He said Pakistan would be consulted when the UK starts negotiations with the ECM.

In reply to a question, he said that in case Britain joined the Common Market, it would require all the capital for industrial advancement internally to compete with the European Six, and that may leave very little private capital in the UK to be invested abroad. The UK investments in Pakistan were thus likely to be affected.

Pakistan’s brief on negotiations with the ECM countries and Austria is likely to be based on the expected larger textile surplus for exports in the coming years. Mr Ali, who led the Pakistan delegation to the GATT meeting at Geneva, said that the new textile agreement mainly directed against “market disruption” would not affect Pakistan at all immediately.