BEIJING, Dec 29: Pakistan and China have finalized necessary arrangements to start bilateral trade under the Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) from January 1.

In this connection, a formal document was signed in Beijing, allowing the two countries to give tariff concession on certain items.

The document was signed by Zhu Hong, deputy director general, department of International Trade and Economic Affairs. Pakistan side was represented by Shahid Mahmood, commercial counsellor in Pakistan embassy.

The two sides exchanged the lists of items, so that the PTA comes into operation from the start of new year. As per agreement, China will allow tariff concession to Pakistan on 893 items, whereas Pakistan will give concession to China on nearly 200 items.

According to sources, on average the mutual tariff concession out of the fresh agreement with China would be 27 per cent. On some items, the duty will be almost zero percent.

The PTA was signed last month during president, Pervez Musharraf’s visit to China, where many agreements were signed to boost trade, investment and joint ventures between the two countries.

“We hope our products would be able to compete with other countries in the Chinese market after availing concessions under the PTA, said Shahid Mahmood while talking to APP. “We also hope a considerable increase in volume of bilateral trade, he said.

India had also signed a trade agreement with China but it was under the famous “Bangkok Agreement” and it was a matter of concern for Pakistan business community, but now what Pakistan will get from China under new bilateral arrangement is much better.

According to the sources, the PTA signed with China will benefit textile made-ups’ sector of Pakistan and will boost exports in this sector. In textile made-ups, China has given tariff concessions ranging from 12 per cent to 27 per cent in almost every category of the textile made ups.—APP