British Minister of State for Trade and Investment Greg Hands is visiting Pakistan next week to further strengthen trade and investment relations between the two countries, well-informed sources told Business Recorder. He is visiting Islamabad at a time when Pakistan is starting diplomatic efforts to seek support of different members of the European Union (EU) for the second review of Generalized System of Preference plus (GSP +).
Hands is expected to hold meetings with different top government functionaries including Minister for Commerce and Textile Pervaiz Malik who will host a dinner in honour of the visiting dignitary. Recently, the United Kingdom (UK) had confirmed continuation of Generalised System of Preferences plus (GSP plus)incentives for Pakistan after Brexit.
"As the UK leaves the EU, we want to maintain and strengthen the access to UK markets for developing countries. For Pakistan, which benefits from zero tariffs on two-thirds of all products when exporting to the UK, we aim at maintaining these levels of access, and will continue to deliver improved support by helping to address constraints to trade. The UK will also explore options to expand on our trade relationships with Pakistan in the future," said British High Commissioner to Pakistan in a communication to Commerce Ministry.
The UK currently provides preferences to around 70 developing countries through the EU, including the GSP. Pakistan currently benefits from an enhanced tier - GSP +, a conditionality for which the UK would implement opportunities that are out of reach and may potentially fuel instability and mass migration, which could in turn have direct consequences for the UK.
Under current EU arrangements, the UK offers duty free quota free access for least developed countries on all goods which they are exporting to the UK, other than arms and ammunition. For the next tier of developing countries, largely classed as lower middle income, the EU offers a mix of reductions on tariffs. DFID's first Economic Development Strategy launched by Ms Patel earlier this year, sets out how private sector investment will help developing nations speed up their rate of economic growth, trade more and industrialise faster, and ultimately lift themselves out of poverty.
Former Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir had sent a letter to the UK Secretary of State for International Trade expressing the hope that bilateral political and trade relations between Pakistan and the UK would continue to grow for mutual benefit of both countries. United Kingdom is one the biggest trading partners of Pakistan. During 2015, bilateral trade between the two countries amounted to $2.47 billion.
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