ISLAMABAD, Nov 21: Speakers at a seminar urged the commerce ministry to take cautious measures in finalising the proposed Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to be inked during the Chinese president’s visit to Islamabad on November 23.

They expressed the apprehension that the entire process of the FTA negotiations was neither consultative nor transparent. Majority of the stakeholders even did not know the contents of the agreement.

These ideas were shared in the one-day national consultation seminar on Pakistan--China Free Trade Agreement, organised by Action-aid Pakistan and the Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI) here on Tuesday.

A renowned economist Dr. A R Kemal said free trade was not a panacea of all the development deficiencies, but trade can be helpful in facilitating the economic growth given that the liberalisation follows the path of successful global trend, which has been gradual integration with the global market rather than jumping into it.

He said Pakistan needs to learn from the time-tested friend--china regarding its economic and trade policies. The Chinese government for decades heavily invested in infrastructure, national capacity building, income distribution, education and skill development.

Public sector played a major part in the transition from the centralised economy to market economy, he added.

A FPCCI representative Siddiq-ur-Rehman was of the view that the concerned government bodies should initiate sector-wise studies to seek opinion from different stakeholders and that information should form the basis for conclusion of free trade agreements.

He said there was also concern that since last four or five years the process of de-industrialisation was occurring due to weak regulatory system and money was being pumped into non-productive sectors such as real estate.

The speakers questioned about the availability of exportable surplus in case of market access to china. “Do we have excessive goods keeping in mind the rules of origin clauses, which could be trade under preference?” they asked.

Syed Qasim Shah of Action-aid said there was time to _

act and correct the things at home, improve the capacity and widely share the available knowledge on SPS and non-tariff barriers.

Muhammad Sulaiman, a trade expert, said there was a need to improve the infrastructure and domestic trade to know the sector-wise cost of business in both the countries as well as the neighbouring India’s competitiveness, improve governance, including access to data and information and transparency.

Eng. Jabbar from FPCCI Karachi said for long-term and sustainable growth, a robust industrial base and support industry was essential.

For achieving this objective the real resources are needed to be shifted from the speculative business to real sectors. Currently, 70 per cent of Pakistani exports to china is yarn, which is a raw material.

Dr Abid Qayyum Suleri of SDPI said that the growing Chinese industry is desperately looking for raw materials, but a pro-industry national regulatory mechanism will facilitate the investment in value-added industry.