In a positive development, China offers big concessions to Pakistan over $8.7 billion exports
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ISLAMABAD - In a positive development, China offers big concessions to Pakistan over $8.7 billion exports.
The Ministry of Commerce has announced that the protocol to amend the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) is in effect from December 1, 2019.
In pursuance of the notification, the Ministry of Commerce has announced that the tariff concessions under Phase-II of the CPFTA will be implemented between the governments of Pakistan and China from 1st January 2020.
As per the agreement, the CPFTA-II will immediately eliminate the tariff on 313 tariff lines of Pakistan’s export interest, giving the same treatment to Pakistan’s exports as other countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
Adviser to Prime Minister on Commerce, Textile, Industries, and Production and Investment, Abdul Razak Dawood announced the agreement on Twitter.
These 313 tariff lines cover over $8.7 billion worth of Pakistan’s global export and $64 billion of Chinese global imports. This will result in 75 percent of total trade liberalization for Pakistan in terms of tariff lines and 92 percent in terms of trade volume.
The duty exemptions are not limited to textile goods. They also include leather, engineering, chemicals, furniture, auto parts, plastic, rubber, paper board, ceramic, glass, surgical instruments, footwear, wood, articles of stones, seafood, meat, tractors, home appliances, etc.
Under the agreement, Pakistan will reduce the duty to zero on 75% of total tariff lines in 15 years, while China will do the same in 10 years. During this period, China will bring down the duty to zero percent on around 2,000-2,500 tariff lines for Pakistan.
