Pakistan to discuss market access with US delegation

A United States delegation is travelling to Pakistan for high-level meetings to discuss promotion of trade and investment in the country and greater market access for Pakistani textile products in US, Dunya News has learnt.The first round of the two-day meetings will be held in Islamabad on September 20th between government officials of both countries while the second round will be on September 21st when the visiting delegation will travel to Lahore for meetings with the private sector, including leading textile groups.The meeting is being held under the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) between both countries since 2003 for the promotion of bilateral trade and investment flows. The US Assistant Trade Representative for South Asia, Michael Deleney will be leading the six-member delegation while Secretary Commerce, Zafar Mahmood will lead the Pakistani side.During the parleys, the Pakistani delegation will be pushing for greater market access for the local textile products in US markets, which has been a long-standing demand of Pakistan since deciding to become an ally with US in the ‘war on terror”, sources informed Dunya News.Pakistan will also urge US to expedite the bill for creation of Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (RoZs) in tribal areas of Pakistan, which is still stuck in Congress for inexplicable reasons, the sources revealed. The promotion of trade in non-traditional sectors like jems & jewelry, leather and surgical instruments etc will also be discussed under the GSP programme of US government.The US Generalised System of Preference (GSP) is a programme designed to promote economic growth in the developing countries by providing preferential duty-free entry for a range of 4800 products from 129 designated countries.Pakistani manufacturers have so far not focused on the benefits of GSP programme and 80 percent of the country’s exports to US consist of textile products, which have a higher tariff regime. Improvement in design structures and capacity building of Pakistani professionals is also on the agenda and US has agreed to extend help in these areas.However, the US has concerns on the situation vis-à-vis intellectual property rights in Pakistan and has been urging the local authorities to take concrete steps for curbing piracy. The issue will again be discussed during the forthcoming meeting, the sources pointed out.The US delegation is also expected to raise enforcement and implementation of Afghan transit trade, though this is not part of agenda for bilateral discussions. “This is something that the US is strongly interested in to promote regional trade and bolster Afghan economy in wake of the withdrawal from that country”, sources stated.Pakistan, on the other hand, will be pursuing US informally to use its influence and lobby for getting due concessions from European Union (EU) for waivers in the WTO for the Pakistani products and manufacturers that can provide a much needed boost to the Pakistani exports.The meetings are also expected to finalise a supporting track of private sector advisory panel (PSAP) to follow-up on these plans and to move the scope of these meetings beyond just governmental level. The first meeting of this private sector body is likely to take place in Pakistan in November this year, but an alternate destination could also be considered in case of any security concerns at that time.The meeting comes at a crucial time for Pakistan when its economy is reeling from the impact of devastating floods for two consecutive years and the ongoing war on terror. Although the Pak-US relations on defence and political fronts are far quite strained at the moment, but the US has shown a commitment to continue with the civilian assistance to Pakistan.“We would like to enhance trade opportunities and gain leverage from US on this count so that the dependency on aid is minimized “, the source said adding “trade-not-aid has been the demand of Pakistan and should define the relationship of both countries, particularly the seriousness of US towards Pakistan, in future”.The bilateral meeting is supposed to be held at least once a year on alternate basis in each country and the last one was held in Washington, DC in April 2010. The US provided support in four categories to Pakistan after last year’s meetings including training of professionals in commercial skills and judicial enforcement of intellectual property rights as well as exhibitions of surgical instruments and general jewelry. Contributed by Awais Saleem, Dunya News Correspondent in Washington.