Riaz Ahmed Tata, President Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI), has welcomed the resolution of all outstanding issues between Pakistan and Germany with regard to the implementation of the convention on the avoidance of double taxation and prevention of fiscal evasion.
He said that this would contribute to the economic development of Pakistan and facilitate transactions between the businessmen of the two countries. Riaz Tata pointed out that Pakistan and Germany had signed double taxation agreement and protocol to the agreement in June 1994 which were enforced in July, 1995 but their implementation became problematic due to disagreement over interpretation of certain provisions of the agreement.
He said it was satisfying that the taxation experts of the two countries held three rounds of negotiations and succeeded in resolving the outstanding issue and signed a memorandum on July 7, 2004 in Berlin to implement the agreement in letter and in spirit keeping in view the valid rights of business communities of both Pakistan and Germany.
Tata said: "I greatly appreciate the spirit of co-operation and accommodation displayed by the officials of both the countries, which will ultimately benefit their countries."
He pointed out that Pakistan's exports to Germany amounted to 579.801 million dollars and imports to 562.509 million dollars in 2002-03 and the agreement will certainly give a boost to both exports and imports.