Pakistan seeks Sri Lanka, Haiti-like trade deals: high level team leaves for Europe

MUSHTAQ GHUMMAN ISLAMABAD (September 07 2010): Pakistan has dispatched a high level delegation to Europe to seek the same trade deals as extended to Sri Lanka and Haiti in he aftermath of their natural disasters, official sources told Business Recorder. Analysts say that the country has suffered Rs 350 billion - Rs 500 billion ($4-6 billion) damage to infrastructure, livestock, and crops.

Approximately, $200 million would be required for recovery/relief efforts whereas repair cost of key damaged infrastructure could exceed $1 billion. The number of people affected, almost 20 million, outnumber the people affected in other major national disasters for example the Indian Ocean Tsunami (2004), the South Asian quake (2005) and the Haiti quake (2010). 79 districts have been affected ie 24 in KP, 12 in Punjab, 19 in Sindh, 10 in Balochistan, 7 in AJK and 7 in Gilgit-Baltistan.

Led by Foreign Minister Mahmood Qureshi, the delegation comprises of Secretary Commerce Zafar Mahmood, and one representative of Finance Ministry and Foreign Ministry each. The delegation will be visiting Poland, Portugal, Spain and Belgium to convince their leadership that Pakistan has been massively affected by the flash floods and that financial assistance of international community is critical to undertaking rehabilitation work.

Sources said that the team would give detailed presentation to European Foreign Ministers who are to hold an informal meeting on September 10, in Brussels, the EU headquarters. "Pakistan will seek GSP plus or special treatment as was given to Sri Lanka and Haiti after they suffered from natural disasters," they added.

According to sources, European countries are ready to extend all possible financial support but they are concerned that assistance destined for affected areas of KP may be diverted to other areas in Punjab and Sindh. "Europe may seek a guarantee that the assistance will be spent in specific areas of KP," sources added.

Islamabad is expecting Europe to commit $2-3 billion within two to three years, sources said. As per initial damage assessments of UN agencies and NDMA an estimated crop area of 1.38 million acres has been completely washed away. Almost 1.2 million homes have been destroyed, rendering over 7.5 million people displaced.

Pakistan is pursuing the EU for GSP plus or a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) but nothing has materialised so far. Last year, the government announced that EU had expressed willingness to discuss FTA with Pakistan and scheduled to hold talks in February 2010. However, progress in this has been negligible, if at all, despite the fact that the Commerce Ministry has spent millions of euros on hiring a consultant firm to lobby on its behalf.

Copyright Business Recorder, 2010