LAHORE, Dec 20: Pakistan’s textile exports to Turkey will get massive boost after the signing of the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) between the two countries next month.

Pakistan and Turkey are set to sign the PTA on Jan 1, Mirza Ikhtiar Baig, adviser to the federal government on textiles, told a group of business reporters on Thursday.

He said the signing of the PTA would result in 6.4 per cent reduction in duties on textile imports by Turkey from Pakistan. He said the duties would come down to 18.1 per cent from the current 24.5 per cent after the PTA becomes effective.

He said Pakistan’s exports to Turkey stood at around $650 million and largely comprised of textile products.

“The PTA will help boost the bilateral trade to $2 billion from $1 billion in a short time with the domestic textile industry being the major beneficiary,” he said.

Baig said the textile industry would get a benefit of $320 million from EU trade discounts on 65 textile items.

On the implementation of 2nd phase of the FTA with China, the adviser said it would open up China’s market for Pakistani raw materials as the Chinese textile industry was phasing out production of basic textile products due to 20 per cent increase in wages and other costs.

He said the duty on all Pakistani products to India barring 100 items would range in between five to 10 per cent from April onwards, opening a new window of opportunity for Pakistan in the Indian market. “The export of coarse count yarn and its products to India would increase exponentially once bilateral trade is liberalised.”