Founder Chairman Pak-US Business Council and veteran trader leaderIftikhar Ali Malik Wednesday demanded the visiting US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for Joint Ventures (JVs) in economic sphere and free direct market access to Pakistan at zero duty in the wake of war against terrorism.Iftikhar Ali Malik said US should convene meeting of Trade and Investment Framework Agreement(TIFA) to move forward for result oriented progress
ISLAMABAD (Pakistan Point News / Online - 26th February, 2020) Founder Chairman Pak-US business Council and veteran trader leaderIftikhar Ali Malik Wednesday demanded the visiting US Commerce Secretary Wilbur Ross for Joint Ventures (JVs) in economic sphere and free direct market access to Pakistan at zero duty in the wake of war against terrorism.Iftikhar Ali Malik said US should convene meeting of Trade and Investment Framework Agreement(TIFA) to move forward for result oriented progress .
There is already a GSP plus status for Pakistan inthe US but new steps could be taken for getting maximum benefits of trade preferential facility, hefurther added.He said that what is Pakistan needs is to opt the model of joint ventures on the pattern of Egypt andsome African countries to enhance trade ties with biggest economies like the US.Iftikhar said the last meeting of TIFA was held in May last in which both sides had discussed ways toimprove access to products such as agricultural goods and medicines in either markets.
He said Pakistan had been keen to explore potential trade concessions as it could import more UScotton in return for preferential US market access for its apparel export. A preferential TradeAgreement (FTA) could be a long goal because of complexity involved in the process, he further saidand added that the TIFA framework provided an institutional mechanism to carry forward thosediscussions and come up with new ideas.He said the US should remove the bottlenecks in bilateral investment treaty and efforts should nowbe made to better FTA and it is now imperative that the US should offer same package and incentiveswhich it offers to Bangladesh and Sri Lanka in textile exports, such as duty concessions and marketaccess.
"There must be an incentive package for Pakistan for being a front-line state in combating terrorismwith the US. He said that Pakistan is time tested friend and suffered colossal irreparable economiclosses running in billions of Dollars in war on terrorism in the region.
