Sixth round of FTA talks to be held in April

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Turkey will hold the sixth round of negotiations on Free Trade Agreement (FTA) in April, which had been postponed due to Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif's visit to Turkey.

Pakistan and Turkey will discuss specific items including the textile sector. Both sides will hold discussions on agreement of goods, services and investment. Pakistan's trade balance started decreasing after additional duties were imposed in 2011, said a senior official of the Ministry of Commerce. He said that before this, Pakistan had a positive trade balance with Turkey.

After the new FTA, both countries will again have the same positive trade balance, he added. The official said that Pakistan will get market space in agriculture and pharmaceutical sector.

He said that both side would exchange provisional lists for a final agreement in the upcoming round of dialogue.

Published in The Express Tribune, March 18^th, 2017.

Like Business on Facebook, follow @TribuneBiz on Twitter to stay informed and join in the conversation.