Pakistan and Malaysia are expected to make significant headway towards signing of Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) during Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz's visit to Putrajaya, new capital of Malaysia, next month. If negotiations prove result-oriented, the two countries would be signing the agreement towards the end of this year, sources told Business Recorder here on Wednesday. The Prime Minister will also discuss the issues including balance of trade, which is in favour of Malaysia due to heavy imports of palm oil by Pakistan.
At the moment, an official delegation of the Ministry of Commerce, led by Joint Secretary Shahid Bashir, is in Malaysia to finalise positive and negative lists pertaining to boost trade between the two countries.
Sources said that it was the first round of technical talks on PTA with Malaysia and the other four will take place this year to pave the way for signing the agreement. After signing the PTA, the two countries would soon go for Free Trade Agreement (FTA), they added. Sources said that Pakistan is among 14 member countries to have offered preferential trade system of the Organisation of the Islamic Conference (OIC) which is currently under negotiation.
Malaysia is manufacturing and exporting mostly electronic equipment and machinery, petrochemicals, palm oil, rubber etc while Pakistan is strong in textiles, rice and other consumer items of daily use. For a long time the range of products traded between the two countries remained narrow and needed diversification and expansion. Currently, Malaysia's imports from Pakistan are limited to textiles (garments, cotton cloth and yarn), rice, leather, sports goods, carpets and rugs.
By signing the PTA and latter on FTA, Pakistan could possibly use Malaysia as a gateway to access the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean) market. The Malaysian Government has already assured Pakistan it can use that country as entrance to Asean markets.
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