Pakistan's Ministry to discuss EU duty-free facility with exporters
15 Nov '11
1 min read
Pakistan's Ministry of Commerce has called a meeting with exporters on Tuesday to discuss the EU duty-free facility for 75 Pakistani items, including apparel and textiles.
India, which had been opposing the EU decision to grant duty-free access to Pakistan, has recently changed its stand and decided to support the move at the World Trade Organization (WTO) meeting.
However, the duty-free access faces a tough competition for eight garment items from Bangladesh. At the WTO's meeting of Committee on Trading Goods (CTG) held in Geneva a week earlier, Bangladesh had raised reservation over eight garment products, as EU remains the largest export destination for Bangladeshi apparel.
Bangladesh had, however, informed the WTO meeting that it will not have any objection if a waiver excluding the eight apparel items is granted to Pakistan.
Pakistan missed on getting the duty-free access as the move was also opposed by Brazil, Peru and Indonesia at the CTG meeting in Geneva.
Generally, duty-free facility is offered to the least developing countries, and Pakistan being a developing country does not fall into this category, but its request for getting a duty-waiver for its 75 products acquired momentum after the country suffered devastating floods last year.