KARACHI – President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce andIndustry (FPCCI), Engr. Daroo Khan Achakzai has appreciated the efforts ofGovernments of Pakistan and Turkey to enter Strategic Economic Framework(SEF) for enhancement of bilateral relations in various sectors includingtrade, tourism, healthcare, hospitality, industry, education, housing,agriculture, aviation and banking.He stated the main purpose of SEF was to enhance bilateral trade by fivetimes from current volume of $ 800 million (approximately). For achievingthis goal, it was expected that both the governments might sign Free TradeAgreement during the current year.Pakistan and Turkey both were the members of ECO, D-8, CACCI and OIC andthe existing trade volume does not reflect the strong friendly relations,said a FPCCI release here on Monday.FPCCI president urged the government of Pakistan to resolve/negotiate onall anti-dumping barriers imposed by Turkey on Pakistani textile and otheritems before the signing of the FTA.
These anti-dumping and safeguard measures reduced Pakistan’s export toTurkey to $ 327 million from $ 850 million in 2011. Textile and rice werethe main exportable items of Pakistan facing high tariff rates in Turkey.The imposition of extra duty on Pakistan’s textile in terms of safeguardand anti-dumping makes our product uncompetitive in Turkey.He suggested that under the FTA government of Pakistan should demand thesame duty structures on textile products, which Turkey had given to Egyptand Jordan under FTA.
Engr. Daroo Khan Achakzai said there were huge export potentialavailable in plastic items, sports goods, carpet, fruits, agricultureproducts and leather goods. Turkey should give concessions in tariff ratesto Pakistan.He mentioned Turkey was currently importing surgical items from Germanythat were originally manufactured in Pakistan.
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Automobile industry was one the growing industries of Pakistan and thisshould not be affected under FTA with Turkey. Apart from trade, the FTAshould also facilitate the investment opportunities between both nations,he suggested.
