ISLAMABAD: Minister for Commerce, Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan on Monday stressed the need for enhancing market access for developing countries and special facilitation for small and medium enterprises (SMEs) and e-commerce at World Trade Organization.
The minister met select group of trade ministers in Oslo (Norway) in which 25 out of 164 members were invited to deliberate on the trade and economic challenges faced by global community. In the meeting with trade minister it was agreed that economic cooperation and trade will be reinvigorated with European Free Trade Association (EFTA) countries.
According to a statement issued by the Ministry of Commerce here on Monday, the minister also met trade minister of Norway ahead of the WTO meeting and discussed ways and means to increase trade between Pakistan and Norway.
Major economies including China, European Union, USA, Brazil, Mexico, Indonesia, Japan, India, Switzerland, Australia, South Africa, Kenya, Korea, Argentina and Pakistan were represented by their trade ministers. Khurram Dastgir Khan highlighted the problems faced by Pakistani farmers and agriculture community especially cotton growers in the meeting and demanded a level playing field for cotton farmers at international markets. He appreciated contribution being made by Norwegian companies led by Telenor.
The European Free Trade Association is a regional trade organization and free trade area consisting of four European States including Iceland, Liechtenstein, Norway and Switzerland.
