Pak-China 4th-round of negotiations on FTA in service sector successfully completes
Associated Press of Pakistan
Pak-China 4th-round of negotiations on FTA in service sector successfully completes
19 September 2008
BEIJING, Sept 19 (APP): The 4th round of negotiations on FTA in service sector to make the existing FTA more comprehensive has been successfully completed, said a senior official of Commercial section of Pakistan Embassy here on Friday.
The Pakistan side in the negotiations was led by Senior Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce Shahid Bashir while Deputy Director General Zhu Hong represented China, said Dr. Naeem Khan, Commercial Counsellor while talking to APP.
The negotiations that lasted for three-day concluded with the departure of Pakistani delegation to Islamabad Friday evening.
Dr. Naeem said that there is a possibility that the next round of talks may be held in Islamabad.
He said that in the negotiations the clarification from both sides were explained and now both sides are close to make final offer to each other in the next round.
“Basically one can say that this was the round of seeking clarification from each other,” he noted.
He said that the text of the agreement is almost complete, as both sides have made enough headway during negotiations on different areas.
Both the sides have stressed the need to provide more than the concessions and commitment they had made with WTO and Doha Round, he observed.
Dr. Naeem said that both sides also made demands to open some more sectors, therefore to discuss these proposals we have to wait for sometime to finalize the agreement.
