Brainstorming continues for signing of Pak-US BIT
Daily Times | Tuesday, January 20, 2009
Brainstorming continues for signing of Pak-US BIT
By Sajid Chaudhry
ISLAMABAD : Government of Pakistan has hired the services of a Swiss consultancy firm for analysing the Pak-US Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT), Federal Minister for Investment, Waqar Ahmed Khan told Daily Times.
The Pakistan Peoples Party led coalition government has decided to obtain legal as well as expert opinion on the draft of the BIT. In this regard the draft has been handed over to Ministry of Law and Justice and private legal consultants (Swiss consultancy firm) so that its clauses are analysed keeping in view the international best practices, said the minister.
An effort was made to conclude BIT with outgoing Bush administration before January 20, 2009 but this effort did not matreialsed. Now Pakistan would negotiate BIT agreement with, Obama led US administration and a round of negotiation would be held between the two governments on an appropriate time in the near future, the minister said.
He dispelled the impression that signing of BIT with United States would be harmful for the economy and said that after settlement of few issues, this agreement would be beneficial for Pakistan.
Waqar Ahmed Khan informed that issues relating to arbitration and transparency clause needs to be resolved. In this regards, Pakistan has sought final comments from the United States so that the agreement is finalised by mutual consent. In a recent meeting with US Ambassador and US Commercial Attaché, the Ministry of Investment has also sought final opinion of US authorities. The present government wants BIT to be equally beneficial for both the countries, as this would be crucial for further negotiation regarding the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with United States, the minister added.
Pakistan is of the view that signatory countries to BIT do not use any political influence or media campaign if any matter is referred for arbitration, the minister explained. Once the comments are received from US, this matter would be placed before the federal cabinet for formal approval, said Waqar Ahmed Khan.
It is pertinent to mention here that during the tenure of former President General Parvez Musharraf, there were some apprehensions in the government ministries over the signing of BIT with US due to which signing of this crucual agreement was cancelled during the visit of President Jorge W Bush to Pakistan.
