President, Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI), Mohammad Saeed Shafiq, has said that Director General Trade of Turkey assured Pakistani delegation that if EU tariff concession agreement with Pakistan materialised Turkey will also consider providing similar concession.
Addressing a press conference here on return of KCCI delegation from Turkey, he said that during their stay in Turkey the delegation met government officials and representatives of private sector in which matters of mutual interest and the major issues came under discussion such as Turkish move to impose duty on import of textile products from Pakistan.
He said that the delegation made efforts to convince the Turkish side to exempt Pakistan from imposition of protection duty on import of textile. Saeed Shafiq said that during a meeting with President of Turkey he discussed this issue with him and the President assured that he would discuss the issue with Prime Minister of Turkey and ask the latter to get the issue resolved.
The president dispelled the impression that Turkey was imposing anti-dumping duty on import of textile products from Pakistan and made it clear that Turkey was imposing duty as a safety measure on import of textile products from all the countries to protect its local textile industry. Anti-dumping duty is imposed on a specific country, he added.
While expressing concern over ministry of commerce, Saeed Shafiq said that the ministry was almost keeping it aloof from the issue of imposition of duty on Pak textile products and making no move to convince Turkish government to keep Pak textiles exempted from the proposed protective duty He emphasised the need that ministry of commerce must represent and defend Pakistan on proposed protection duty issue with Turkey.
The president informed that only Pakistan embassy in Turkey and Pakistan Denim Manufacturing Association are following the issue with Turkish government. Saeed Shafiq said that Pakistan is facing serious economic crisis and added that the government must take up protective duty issue at highest level with Turkish government to save Pakistan textile industry from another crisis.
Referring to Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with Turkey, the president said that Istanbul Chamber of Commerce and Industry (ICCI) had agreed that Pakistan and Turkey should sign FTA in near future. He said that both KCCI and ICCI also agreed to prepare a list of items which could be traded between the two countries .
Saeed Shafiq said that the delegation also made efforts to convince Turkish side to invest in Pakistan in different sectors, including power generation, wind, solar energy, Thar coal etc. Replying a question, he said two way trade is around 1.6 billion dollars at present which is likely to cross 2 billion dollars by July this year. Replying another question, he said that it has been decided that there will be no productive duty on import of textile product which is re-exported after value addition in Turkey. At present 16 percent of total textile import from Pakistan comprises of items which are re-exported after value addition in Turkey, he added.
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