Pakistan to propose alternative trade schemes to US

Commer­ce secret­ary says issue will be taken up at bilate­ral trade talks in April.

ISLAMABAD:

The promise of establishing reconstruction opportunity zones (ROZ) in conflict-affected areas of Pakistan has been unfulfilled for the last seven years, prompting Pakistan to push the United States to offer alternate trade benefits.

The issue would be taken up with US authorities during upcoming bilateral trade talks, Secretary Commerce Zafar Mahmood said in an exclusive interview with The Express Tribune. Both sides are scheduled to meet in the last week of April to hold talks under Trade and Investment Framework Agreement. “Up till now, the Reconstruction Opportunity Zone bill has not made any progress and we are pursuing alternate lines with US,” Mahmood said.

Promised in the aftermath of the 2005 earthquake, the bill has stalled, primarily due to domestic concerns in the US.

The bill envisioned creating jobs in Pakistan and Afghanistan by providing duty-free access to the US for goods made in the approved zones within the two countries. “We will certainly bring on table certain suggestions which could either revive ROZs or propose alternate arrangements through which the US may pass on trade benefits to Pakistan,” Mahmood said, without elaborating on the alternative arrangements. He said the alternatives will depend on what the US was prepared to consider.

“We have certain ideas but we will only bring them on table if there is certain receptivity in America,” he said. He hoped for a better atmosphere at the trade talks due to gradual improvement in bilateral relations.

A trade expert suggested that Pakistan could ask the US to allow for import of those items at concessionary duties which are not manufactured in America.

Pak-India trade ties

Talking about greater regional integration, Mahmood said there was possibility of linking Far East Asia with Central Asia provided that India and Pakistan resolve their disputes and move firmly, surely, and steadily on the path to normalise their overall relationship.

“I think then the atmosphere would be created in which the government will look more favourably at this kind of request,” he said. When asked about granting India transit access to Kabul via land, Mahmood said it would be a bilateral arrangement but India has not officially asked Pakistan for it.

“If and when they table this issue, the government will decide on its own merit,” he said. Exporters are keenly looking forward to normalisation of trade ties, and eying the ten times larger Indian market, he said. Sectors that have production facilities are the ones feeling threatened by Indian goods, he added. I

f need arises, Pakistan can invoke safeguard laws to protect the industry but the industry should educate itself about the efficacy of the law, Mahmood said.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 9^th, 2012.