Pakistani exports decreased after signing various FTAs : ICCI
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ISLAMABAD: (APP) Islamabad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) on Friday called upon the government to revise Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and Preferential Trade Agreements (PTAs) signed with various countries in order to improve exports and trade competitiveness of Pakistan.
President, ICCI, Atif Ikram Sheikh said in a statement that as per latest data of Pakistan Bureau of Statistics, Pakistan's exports during July-August 2016 have fallen by 8.19 percent compared to same period of previous year due to which the trade balance has widened by 27.28 percent.
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He said, countries normally sign FTAs and PTAs in order to increase market access for their exports and enhance their trade competitiveness.
However, FTAs and PTAs signed by Pakistan with different countries have mostly led to increase in import of subsidized consumer goods and exposure of our domestic industry, especially SMEs to unfair competition, he added.
He said, Pakistan has signed FTAs with China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka and PTAs with Iran, Indonesia and Mauritius, but these trade deals have not achieved the desired results as yet.
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Atif Ikram said Pakistan was now striving for signing a free trade agreement with Thailand.
However, he stressed that the main objective of free or preferential trade agreements should be to save domestic industry from negative implications and to boost the country`s exports, trade competitiveness and value-addition to domestic manufacturing industry that would lead to creation of more jobs and reduction in unemployment as well.
He emphasized that the government should sign all free and preferential trade agreements after thorough consultation with stakeholders to achieve optimum results from such deals for the country and to save the local industry from any damaging consequences of such trade agreements.
