ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and Thailand are going to hold second round of talks on free trade agreement from tomorrow and it will continue till Wednesday. The first round of negotiations started last year.
Both the countries will focus on tariff reductions, customs procedures, and cooperation in many sectors such as sanitary standards, trade remedy measures, trade facilitation, and technical barriers and laws that should be eliminated to promote trade growth in three days’ negotiations here in the federal capital.
“Although both the countries are willing to conclude the ongoing discussions on FTA at the earliest, yet a number of hurdles and anomalies hinder significant progress on the said subject” a well placed official source at Ministry of Commerce told Customs Today.
Therefore, both Pakistan and Thailand will try to conclude a free-trade agreement (FTA) by next year, not only to promote trade and closer cooperation between the two, but also so each country can use the other as a springboard into the South Asia and ASEAN regions respectively
Thai delegation will be headed by Deputy Director-General of the Commerce Ministry’s Trade Sunanta Kangvalkulkij while Pakistani side may be led by expert in such matters Joint Secretary Ministry of Commerce Rubina Athar.
Both the sides will discuss limiting the time frame for each topic, so that the FTA can be concluded within the target of mid-2017. Pak-Thai FTA will be beneficial to both countries and significantly increase bilateral trade and investment.
Moreover, the FTA will would enable Thailand to expand its exports into South Asia as well as other Muslim nations in the surrounding region. On the other side, Thailand will be a gateway for Pakistan to penetrate the ASEAN Economic Community.
The agreement should also eliminate both tariff and non-tariff barriers as well as increase investment opportunities for both countries.
Some large Thai companies have already invested in Pakistan. More Thai firms, including small and medium-sized enterprises, should be able to penetrate this market after the FTA comes into force.
In 2014, Thailand enjoyed a trade surplus of $734 million with Pakistan, and similar trade surpluses have been registered by the Thai Kingdom since 2010.
Bilateral trade reached $1.01 billion in 2014. Pakistan’s imports from Thailand were worth $874 million. Pakistan is Thailand’s second-largest trading partner in South Asia after India, and No 46 globally.
Major import products from Thailand to Pakistan are fabrics, textiles, vehicles and parts, air-conditioners and parts, plastics, and chemical goods. Similarly, major Pakistani exports to Thailand are machinery and parts, musical instruments, processed and semi-processed fishery products, ore, and steel.
