The business community of southern Punjab has expressed its concern on the proposed second-generation free trade agreement (FTA) with China on August 4 in Karachi and urged upon the government to maintain balance in bilateral trade to save the local industry otherwise Pakistan would be a consumer country in future.
President of Multan Chamber of Commerce & Industry (MCCI) Fareed Mughis Sheikh said that there are serious concerns of the manufacturers and industrialists that think opening up further trade with China could cause more loss to the local industry. He has warned against signing another FTA with China citing adverse effects of the FTA.
It is important to mention that Pakistan and China are negotiating to revise the FTA for the last two years. Pakistan has demanded concessions for more tariff lines but China has shown non-commitment on the issue. He suggested that government should summon a meeting of stakeholders to review the trade pact with China and other countries on bilateral basis. It is worth mentioning that due to FTA, Pakistan had to face Rs 176 billion revenue losses in eight years.
Fareed Mughis SHeikh said that China and Pakistan have different trade statistics, as Pakistani side claims that the bilateral trade between Pakistan and China was around $4 billion in 2006-07, which reached all time high of $12 billion in 2014-15. Pakistan's exports jumped to $2.1 billion in 2014-15 from $575 million in 2006-07. On the other hand, China side claims the trade around $19 billion. China's exports to Pakistan increased to $10.1 billion in 2014-15 from $3.5 billion in 2006-07.
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