Minister keen to diversify trade with Netherlands

Both sides to begin new round of discussions; GSP monitoring mission to arrive soon

ISLAMABAD:

Federal Minister for Commerce Jam Kamal Khan, while welcoming the new Netherlands ambassador, has stated that there is immense room for diversification of bilateral trade.

"There is huge potential to enhance exports of agricultural and food products from Pakistan. A lot can be explored to improve productivity as well as quality," he remarked in a meeting with Ambassador Robert-Jan Siegert.

In the agriculture sector, rice is an important crop and a key export earner for Pakistan, including supplies to the Netherlands.

The minister also underscored the importance and potential of services sector. "Given the youth bulge in Pakistan, the services sector can surpass goods exports very easily and in a lesser time," he said and praised the Netherlands-based Jazz Telecom and its role in digital financial integration of rural population.

Khan mentioned that after the 18th Constitutional Amendment many subjects had been shifted to provinces, however, the Ministry of Commerce was coordinating and sensitising all the stakeholders.

The commerce minister highlighted that Pakistan was working to expand its dairy and meat sector and enhance their exports. He explored the possibility of technology sharing between the Netherlands and Pakistan, responding to which the ambassador said that there were several projects, particularly drone-assisted efficient water management, that could be helpful to Pakistan.

The envoy mentioned that they were discussing dates for starting a formal round of discussions to explore new areas and opportunities of coordination and bilateral interaction. With reference to the upcoming visit of a Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) monitoring mission, he hoped that the interaction would improve relations between the European Union (EU) and Pakistan.

The ambassador pointed out that previously Dutch companies were facing hardships in the repatriation of dividends, but the issue has now been resolved with the cooperation of Pakistani stakeholders. He was optimistic that improved macroeconomic conditions would win the confidence of foreign investors.

Commerce Secretary Jawad Paul, who was present in the meeting, remarked that the EU had just one scheme of interaction with Pakistan, which was GSP Plus. He assured the ambassador that Pakistan was committed to fulfilling all the obligations considering it was in its own interest to do so.

The secretary raised the issue of withdrawal of EU concessions on ethanol. In this regard, the industry association has appealed to the EU to address the complaint. He requested the ambassador to take their appeal into consideration and mentioned that applications for the Geographical Indication of Basmati rice had been filed by both India and Pakistan.