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Pakistan

The government of Pakistan is a keen pursuer of bilateral trade and investment agreements. It has a full FTA with Sri Lanka (2005), a PTA with Iran (2004) and Mauritius (2007), Early Harvest Schemes with China (2005) and Malaysia (2007), and is part of both ECOTA and SAFTA. It is in various stages of FTA talks, or preparations for talks, with Brunei, Indonesia, Jordan, Thailand, Malaysia, Morocco, Singapore, the Gulf Cooperation Council, Canada, Switzerland, Indonesia, Nepal, China, Turkey and Russia (among others). In July 2006, it signed a Framework Agreement on Trade with Mercosur.

Negotiations on a US-Pakistan bilateral investment treaty, as a step towards a US-Pakistan FTA, have been quite controversial and are unconcluded. After talks restarted in mid-2010, a draft US-Pakistan BIT was sent for approval to Pakistan’s Cabinet in April 2012. The Pakistani government has already signed almost 50 BITs with other countries. In 2011 Germany ratified a BIT with Pakistan.

On a wider scale, there is talk of possible Pakistani FTAs with Afghanistan, Algeria, the EU, Japan, Laos, Mexico, New Zealand, South Africa and Tunisia.

last update: May 2012
Photo: Asian Development Bank/CC BY-NC-ND 2.0


Pak-Turk FTA issue to be resolved soon: Envoy
Turkish Ambassador to Pakistan Mustafa Yurdakul has said that issue of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) and grant of GSP+ status to Pakistan between the two countries would be resolved soon, adding that such matters were not resolved in days and Ankara was optimistic that the issue would be resolved amicably in near future.
Pakistan’s duty concessions to China threaten local industry
Local manufacturers, who were not consulted on the plans, are up in arms as their government proposes major cuts to concessions on imports of Chinese goods.
Industry presses ministry to defer FTA-II with China
Various exporting sectors have strongly advised Pakistan’s ministry of commerce to defer the signing of second phase of Free Trade Agreement (FTA-II) with China until the next government takes charge after polls in July, 2018, industry officials said on Tuesday.
China FTA nearly done
Pakistan and China have agreed to offer zero per cent duty on 70pc tariff lines to each other under the revised Free Trade Agreement, a move that is expected to add to increasing imbalance in bilateral trade and revenue loss.
Pakistan, Iran agree to conclude FTA on priority
Foreign Minister Khawaja Muhammad Asif and his Iranian counterpart Dr. Javad Zarif on Monday agreed to continue engagement for enhancing economic cooperation including bilateral trade, investments, and commercial interaction to promote shared prosperity.
Pakistan-China: ‘FTA to be signed by mid-March’
The second phase of the free trade agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and China would be signed by mid-March to increase bilateral trade.
Revising China FTA may not make big difference
Pakistan and China have agreed to amend the bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) with a view to providing Pakistani exports with better access to the Chinese market.
Sartaj stresses early conclusion of FTA with Turkey
Deputy Chairman of Planning Commission Sartaj Aziz stressed the need for early conclusion of Free Trade Agreement between Pakistan and Turkey to help boosting bilateral trade.
China agrees to accommodate Pakistan’s concerns on FTA
The demands included those from exporters to provide tariff concessions equivalent to the ASEAN countries.
Pakistan-China trade talks to begin in Beijing on Wednesday
place in Beijing on Wednesday. The government is preparing for the FTA dialogue with an aim to explore huge market of China ,” said an official of the ministry of commerce. China had recently offered to re-initiate the stalled talks on free trade agreement-II, which is likely to resolve the pending issues.

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  • Pakistan FTAs
    Webpage maintained by the Ministry of Commerce