Ministry of Commerce is considering entering into Transit Trade Agreements with land locked Central Asian Republics (CARs). "Such arrangement with these countries would provide enhanced market access for Pakistani goods," Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan said on Thursday at the end of two-day Envoys Conference held in Almaty, Kazakhstan, according to a fax message received here.
In depth consultations were held in the conference to assess Pakistan's export potential in each of these countries. Areas such as import tariffs, non-tariff barriers, payment problems and visa restrictions were thoroughly discussed.
The possibilities of entering into bilateral and regional trading arrangements were comprehensively explored in the conference.
The conference offered an excellent opportunity to the prominent Pakistan businessmen and Central Asian businessmen of Pakistani origin to explore business opportunities in Pakistan.
The Minister stated that holding of such conferences was a new concept and similar conferences would be arranged in Africa, Eastern Europe, Latin America, Middle East and Asia Pacific.
"The main thrust of these conferences is to develop a comprehensive strategy for increasing and diversifying Pakistan exports to this region", Khan said.
The Commerce Minister gave a detailed briefing on Pakistan's economy and trade to the Central Asian businessmen of Pakistani origin. He said Pakistan had a free trade regime with lowest duties in the region, adding Pakistan's trade regime was a great attraction for the forward thinking businessmen and companies.
The Minister said Pakistan used to have a top rate of customs duty at 120 percent excluding other tariff peaks.
The number of applied rate was as huge as 42 percent and four complex taxation systems namely ad valorem, specific, alternate and composite were being applied, which made the business activity very complicated.
He said, "It is now a matter of great satisfaction that the first generation of macroeconomic reforms have been completed under which the tariff structure has been massively reduced and simplified in extensive consultation with the private sector stakeholders".
He stated that as a consequence of those massive reforms, the business environment had become friendly and conducive in Pakistan.
The Minister further said the business confidence in Pakistan had immensely increased which was an encouraging factor for the business community.
The businessmen appreciated the initiatives of the ministry of commerce and showed keen interest in exploiting trade potential of Pakistan.
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