Pakistan-China FTA to be activated from December, announces Dawood

ISLAMABAD: Adviser to Prime Minister for Commerce, Abdul Razak Dawood, announced on Friday that China has given approval to early activated of its Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Pakistan, ARY News reported.

Abdul Razak Dawood said that the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) will be activated from December 1 which was previously scheduled to be commenced in April 2020.

While detailing the development, the commerce adviser said that the agreement needs one year to be activated, however, the Chinese leadership approved the early activation following its peculiar relations with Pakistan.

“I had participated in the China International Import Expo during my visit to Beijing which was inaugurated by President Xi Jinping this year. More than 3,000 businesspersons from 150 countries had taken part in the import expo where the stalls established in separate categories for the countries and businesses.”

Read: China to offer 90pct market access to Pakistani exporters under FTA: Yao Jing

“Thirty-five exporters from Pakistan exhibited their products in that event and I’d held meetings with the representatives of different companies to provide them information regarding the business opportunities in the country.

The commerce adviser said that China has shown readiness to provide assistance to Pakistan for food security and Beijing will provide training facilities to Islamabad. He expressed hopes that Pakistani products will get country pavilion in the Chinese exhibition and the country will give a formal request to get the pavilion till December.

Earlier in the day, Dawood said that small and medium enterprises (SMEs) play an important role in making the economy stable.

Read: China agrees to accommodate Pakistan’s demands in amended FTA

He said that the federal government will empower small and medium-sized industries as SMEs always play an important role in the stability of the economy. The adviser noted that investment will be gradually increased after creating ease in the businesses.

Abdul Razak Dawood made the statement while addressing a session related to investment under his chair which was attended by the Board of Investment (BoI) chairman, secretary commerce and other high-level officials. The participants of the meeting held consultations over creating easiness in the businesses for the promotion of trade activities.

Dawood reiterated that Pakistan improved 28 points in the ease of doing business’ report released by the World Bank (WB). He added that the authorities will further simply business procedures to promote investment in the country.