ISLAMABAD: Minister for Commerce, Mohammad Pervaiz Malik Friday directed the negotiating team on Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) to work vigorously to conclude the agreements in best interest of Pakistan.
He was chairing a briefing on Pak-Thailand and Pak-China FTA here where the meeting was informed that 8th round of Pak-China FTA would be held in Beijing on September 14 and 15.
Joint Secretary (FT-1) and the chief negotiator on the FTA, Taimur Tajammal briefed the minister on the state of negotiations with Thailand and China.
Mohammad Pervaiz Malik expressed satisfaction over the progress of FTA negotiations and the preparation of the negotiating team and directed them to work vigorously to conclude the agreements in best interest of Pakistan and at the same time, addressed the concerns of the local industry.
Speaking to the negotiating team, the minister was of the view that while negotiating FTA with Thailand, Pakistan was also looking to access a huge untapped market of the whole East Asian Region. From the same region, the minister said Pakistan had already concluded successful FTAs with Malaysia and Indonesia.
Earlier, the Pakistan’s Ambassador to Belgium Naghmana Hashmi and Pakistan’s Economic Minister in Brussels, Omer Hameed called on Minister for Commerce and briefed minister about the situation of bilateral trade between Pakistan and Brussels and appraised commerce minister on the areas of trade and investment between the two countries.
Mohammad Pervaiz Malik directed them to work relentlessly for boosting exports of Pakistan to Brussels and to look for opportunities to increase trade, investment and cooperation between the two countries.
He, later on also visited the National Tariff Commission Office in Islamabad where he was given briefing by Chairman of NTC, Qasim M Niaz about the structure, working, achievements and problems faced by the NTC. He expressed satisfaction over the performance of National Tariff Commission and assured them of full support of the Commerce Ministry in resolving the issues faced by them.
