Pakistan is in the final stage of designing initial offer to World Trade Organisation (WTO) on services sectors which, according to the Commerce Ministry, can be amended at any time, official sources told Business Recorder. Commerce Ministry is engaged in consultations with the public as well as private sector stakeholders on the issue and is now seeking comments of ministries to incorporate their suggestions in the final draft, they said.
"As we receive reaction on the maximum offer proposal, we will begin negotiations by putting an initial offer on the table which is also less than the maximum offer Pakistan is willing to make so as to retain some bargaining space for negotiations," Additional Secretary, Commerce, Asif Shah, said in a letter to the concerned ministries.
While clarifying the position, the ministry said that for General Agreement on Trade and Services (GATS) both the initial requests and initial offer were essentially tentative in nature and not binding and can be amended by the member countries during the negotiation process.
"The initial offer will be submitted on the basis of 1994 schedule, to which newly offered commitment will be added and several revisions will be made in the course of bilateral negotiations," Commerce Ministry said.
Keeping in mind national interest and its international obligations, the government would strengthen and deepen its 1994 schedule, including its 1997 commitments, and enlarge the scope of commitments in response to the requests and offers of countries like US, EU, Japan and China, sources said.
THE MINISTRY SAID THAT PAKISTAN WOULD MAKE COMMITMENTS IN PURSUANCE OF THE FOLLOWING OBJECTIVES:
1. Promotion of private domestic and foreign direct investment.
2. Acquisition of state-of-the-art technology.
3. Promotion of export of services.
4. Diversification of its economy.
5. Introduction of a measure of competition to stimulate greater efficiency.
6. Development of skilled labour force.
Sources said that Commerce Ministry is of the view that inclusion of a commitment in its schedule of commitments does not bind the government for ever. The government could modify its commitments any time after three years on its binding by offering compensation in terms of liberalisation of any other item.
Commerce Ministry, sources said, has assured other ministries that WTO community was also engaged in drawing up suitable rules to enable a member to take emergency safeguard measures.
Comments
Comments are closed.