A senior official of the ministry of commerce told The Express Tribune that the next meeting of the WTO will be held in March and will discuss the approval of duty-free access of certain Pakistani products to European markets.
The official added that the country will also consider the use of back channel diplomacy to convince India to withdraw its reservations against the concessions. Sources added that Pakistan has also requested the US and the EU to approach India in an attempt to address any concerns that India might have about the concessions.
At the previous meeting of the WTO, India had expressed its reservations about the EU concessions package and as a result the WTO council had refused to approve the package. The European Commission had earlier allowed the duty-free import of up to $500 million of Pakistani goods and presented the case to the WTO. Although a majority of the 154 members of the WTO voted in favour of the package, India spoke out against the package. India had said that the industries that will benefit from the package were not affected by the floods at all. Funds should be provided to develop the infrastructure in flood-affected areas and to finance reconstruction and rehabilitation efforts instead, India had explained at the WTO meeting. Sources said that all WTO members need to vote unanimously in favour of the package for it to go through.
The European Union Commission had earlier sent this case for approval to the WTO council. If the country manages to receive WTO concessions, then this will be the first instance of a non-European country benefitting from zero tariffs.
Published in The Express Tribune, December 15th, 2010.
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