EU monitoring mission on GSP-Plus to visit Pakistan in November

ISLAMABAD: Prime Minister’s Adviser on Commerce, Abdul Razzaq Dawood has said that 4th Biennial Review of European Union’s GSP Plus incentive has been underway, ARY News reported on Thursday.

“I am confident that due to the positive initiatives by the government the review will be successfully completed” he said.

European Union (EU) Generalized Scheme of Preference (GSP-Plus) incentive provides many Pakistani export oriented products including garments, hosiery, leather, sports and surgical goods duty free access in the EU market.

“EU is our biggest export partner and we have excellent relations with all EU Member States”, the Adviser said in a press release issued by the Ministry of Commerce.

“The Fourth Biennial Review (2020–2021) has commenced and Pakistan has submitted its responses to the EU on the issues and follow up questions,” he said.

A EU monitoring mission expected to visit Pakistan in November 2021, the Adviser said.

The European Commission has published new proposed legislation for GSP Scheme on September 22, 2021.

The Adviser said that once the European Council and Parliament adopt the new scheme, Pakistan, like any other beneficiary country of the GSP scheme, will have to file a new application for the new GSP scheme and ratify and implement 32 International Conventions.

He said that EU Member Countries have been in the top ten export destinations of Pakistan.

The EU GSP Plus is linked with the implementation of 27 UN Conventions on human rights, labour rights, climate change, governance and narcotics control.

After every two years a review is carried out by the European Union to ensure the commitment of the beneficiary countries to effectively implement these 27 UN Conventions.