Pak, China to seal FTA on services
Pakistan Observer
Pak, China to seal FTA on services
By Shah Hasan
27 October 2008
Islamabad-Pakistan and China will hold final talks in December to seal Free Trade Agreement on services sectors.
“This means both countries would strike FTA deal on Services sector some where in January 2009”, a senior official said.
The official said that after striking FTA in services sector, both countries would have more bilateral trade volume. “This will really help translate the time tested political ties with China into economic relations.”
Pakistan has also included a special protocol in the earlier FTA on goods which is very much in place. Under special protocol Pak-china special investment zones would be established. All the products which will be manufactured in the special investment zone would have access in China markets on zero duty. The official said that China would also come up Greenfield Investment in Pakistan meaning by that China would bring massive fresh investment in various sectors of economy.
Under the FTA on goods, the bilateral trade has swelled up to over $ 6 billion out of which Pakistan’ exports to China stands at over $ one billion and imports from China to Pakistan stands over $5billion as per the statistics compiled by Chinese concerned department. However, as afar as Federal Bureau Statistics Division is concerned, Pakistan’s exports to China stand at $ 600 to $700 million, while imports from China hovers around $ 4.5 billion.
Under FTA on services both the countries would trade on banking communication medical, education, labour and construction sectors. The official said that China and Pakistan would recognize the degrees of each other institutions particularly in medical field.
Both countries would open banks branches also and make trade through each other banking facilities. The official said that China has shown interest in Islamic banking also.
In the communication sector, China would also invest a lot in various projects as it is already engaged in making vital projects of the country too. In telecom sector Zong Telecommunication Company which is the biggest company in the world would also bring more investment in the country despite the fact that this particular company has already invested $ 800 million in telecom sector in Pakistan.
