European Parliament satisfied with progress made by Pakistan on 27 conventions of GSP Plus
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LONDON - The European Parliament has expressed satisfaction on the progress achieved by Pakistan in enacting new laws and developing new institutions for implementation of 27 core conventions of GSP+ specially the National Action Plan for Human Rights.
The parliament hoped that Pakistan would continue to engage with the EU to ensure to bridge implementation gaps during the next two years of reporting on GSP+.
In this regard, the International Trade Committee (INTA) has discuss the 2nd Biennial Assessment Report of GSP+ and also agreed to deliberate upon possibility of up-scaling relationship with Pakistan from a beneficiary of GSP+ Scheme to an FTA partner in future.
The process of monitoring of compliance of GSP+ for next biennial assessment report for 2018-2019 would start in March 2018 by the European Commission.
According to Ministry of Commerce, Secretary Commerce Mohammad Younus Dagha represented Pakistan INTA meeting in Brussels and made presentation to the European Council on Pakistan’s case for retaining GSP+ and on-going deliberations by the EU Parliament and to undertake necessary engagements with policy makers in European Parliament, European External Action Service and European Commission.
INTA noted the positive economic impact of the GSP+ scheme on the beneficiary countries and it has been useful in encouraging countries to undertake necessary steps for promoting principles of good governance and sustainable development.
European Commission and the European External Action Service had prepared a Joint Staff Document evaluating steps taken by the beneficiary countries to comply with UN Conventions pertaining to human rights, labour rights, narcotics control and corruption.
The section pertaining to Pakistan appreciated legislative and institutional measures undertaken to improve the Human rights regime in Pakistan. It specifically appreciated establishment of National Human Rights Commission and National Action Plan for Human Rights among other measures.
During the session it was announced that GSP+ monitoring missions shall undertake visits to Pakistan, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan and Bolivia in second half of 2018 to interact with stakeholders engaged in implementation of mandatory conventions for GSP+.
Pakistan is one of the 10 beneficiaries of EU’s GSP+ Scheme. As a result of duty free access available to Pakistan in 28 member states Pakistan’s exports to the EU have increased from 4.54 billion Euros in 2013 to 6.29 billion Euros in 2016 which implies an increase of 38%.
This duty free access has been crucial for Pakistani products to maintain their competitiveness in the EU market vis-à-vis similar products originating from India, Turkey, Vietnam and China.
