Pakistan has decided to enter into a free trade agreement (FTA) with Singapore to increase its exports and a high-level delegation will visit Singapore at the end of this month.
Sources told The Express Tribune that talks on FTA with Singapore were suspended after four rounds of earlier dialogue. Sources in the Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) said that a summary had been received from the commerce ministry about FTA with Singapore, and it requested removing 80 per cent of tariff lines.
According to sources, the agreement will offer Pakistan a chance to come closer to the regional grouping of Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), also providing the country an opportunity to supply manpower to Singapore, and thus bring foreign exchange into the country.
Singapore had already provided suggestions to Pakistan for an FTA. These propositions had been shared with stakeholders, but businesses, industrialists and others expressed their reservations about these propositions.
According to sources, stakeholders providing concessions on tariff lines to Singapore will turn the balance of trade against Pakistan, and this will increase the country’s trade deficit. They claimed that it will also have adverse effects on the local industry and in turn the economy.
Sources, however, added that if Pakistan taps into the service sector in Singapore, it will benefit the economy.
Published in The Express Tribune, May 11th, 2011.
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