ISLAMABAD: Federal Commerce Minister Pervaiz Malik held a meeting with United States ambassador to Pakistan David Hale here on Tuesday and discussed bilateral relations. The Commerce Minister said that Pakistan and US had cordial trade relations and that trade between Pakistan and US stood at US$ 6 billion during the last financial year 2016-17.
He said that the trade relations between the two countries were governed by Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) which was signed in 2003 and covered Pak-US GSP Programme and Business Opportunities Conference (BOC).
Business Opportunities Conference (BOC) was a government to government arrangement and Pakistan was preparing to host fifth BOC. Pervaiz Malik said Pakistan was also looking forward to further improve bilateral trade with Afghanistan and facilitate the transit trade.
“Pakistan is looking forward to holding the 7th APTTCA meeting which was scheduled on September 10-11, 2017 but was unilaterally postponed by the Afghan side,” the minister added. He said United States should extend cooperation to Pakistan in different sectors particularly agriculture.
U.S ambassador David Hale said that Pakistan was lucrative market for investment and that U.S businesses were interested in investing in Pakistan. He further said that GSP was the key and Pakistan was making good use of it. David Hale said that Business Opportunities Conference will help Pakistan in building awareness of U.S businesses and would result in sector wise discussion and cooperation.
Earlier, the European Union (EU) Ambassador to Pakistan Jean Francois Cautain called on Pervaiz Malik and discussed matters of mutual interest.
