KARACHI, March 5: The government will carry out an analytical study on competitiveness of Pakistan’s non-agricultural production sectors to assess the country’s position in the multilateral trade negotiations in the WTO following Doha declaration.

Dr Amir Mehmood, Research Programme, New Castle Graduate School of Business, Callahan, Australia, has been assigned by the government to carry out the study.

He sought inputs from the stakeholders in a meeting held at the FPCCI on March 3, as what should be Pakistan’s position in prioritizing of options namely — uniform formula approach, differential formula approach and request and offer approach under discussion amongst contracting parties of the WTO.

The study, he added, would also accommodate recommendations after identifying most important perceived generic domestic impediments like increased competition, public infrastructure constraints, environmental regulations, access to technology, financial resources, macro-economic management faced by the non- agriculture sector.

The study will also expose key factors constraining growth and competitiveness of 16 sectors, which include from mineral to toys in the arrangement of harmonized system from Section V to Section XX in the layout of customs tariff interpreted by harmonized system identifying commodities.