Pakistan, Thailand to Sign FTA Soon

Pakistan will sign a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Thailand in January.This aims at enhancing bilateral trade between the two countries.

Matters that have been discussed relate to trade in goods, rules of origin, technical barriers to trade, trade remedies, customs procedures, legal and institutional issues and trade facilitation.

Pakistan has relative advantages over Thailand in some 684 commodities including cotton yarn and woven textiles, readymade garments, leather products, surgical instruments and sports goods.

The ninth round of FTA negotiations would start between Pakistan and Thailand by November this year, in which both sides would presenting the complete offer list for reaching the final agreement.

The trade volume between Pakistan and Thailand stood at 952 million dollars at the end of 2015-16. Pakistan’s exports constitute107 million dollars while imports amount to 845 million dollars.

While negotiating a free trade agreement with Thailand, Pakistan is also looking to access a huge untapped market in the east Asian region. Pakistan already has free trade agreements with Malaysia and Indonesia.

Pakistan is working on a FTA with China. China has agreed to provide market access to 65 items, shared by Pakistan, besides providing concessions on all items included in the offer list.