ISLAMABAD, Sept 30: Pakistan and China will hold the fourth round of negotiation on finalisation of the draft text of FTA in Beijing next month, officials told Dawn on Saturday.

Both sides are looking forward to expedite the negotiations process in order to complete the negotiations on proposed text in the three-day meeting starting from October 9.

Officials in the commerce ministry expected that the both sides would finalise the items for duty reduction and rules of origin. “If an agreement is reached in these areas, then the agreement will be signed during the upcoming visit of the Chinese president to Pakistan in Nov,” said the officials.

However, the local manufacturers and traders were asking the government to avoid speedier conclusion of the proposed FTA with China. They were asking for adequate safeguard for the local industries against the cheap imports from China.

They further said that as China continued its rise as great economic power based on its huge domestic market, high saving rates, entrepreneur skills and pool of cheap and skilled labour, it would not be possible for locally-manufactured goods to compete with those coming from China under the proposed FTA.

The officials, however, said that Pakistani trade negotiating team led by a joint secretary would protect the nascent industries under the proposed agreement. This would be a landmark decision which would further enhance the cooperation between the two countries, they added.

Over the past few years, China-Pakistan economic and trade relations grew rapidly. In 2005, bilateral trade reached $4.26 billion, up by 39pc over 2004. Trade stood at $1.018 billion in January to March this year between the two countries, up by 42.3 per cent over the same period last year.

The officials said Pakistan and China had reached at understanding informally at a higher level to conclude the FTA by end of the current year.