The report of the Senate Special Committee on WTO, suggesting further liberalisation of economic policies and tariff reduction, was presented in the Upper House on Tuesday amid hopes that it would help Pakistan in understanding and preparing for the new trading system.
The 18-member committee was formed in 2003 under the chairmanship of Privatisation Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Sheikh through a resolution moved in the Upper House by Pakistan Muslim League (PML) Senator Chaudhry Muhammad Anwar Bhinder.
Muttahida Majlis-i-Amal (MMA) Senator Professor Khurshid Ahmed, who was also the member of the committee, said the report was a best document ever produced in Pakistan on WTO.
He expressed the hope that it would help all the stakeholders, including the government, the private sector, policy-makers and the industry, in comprehending and preparing for the WTO challenges.
"It is the first ever document of its kind ever produced in the parliamentary history of the country," Professor Khurshid said.
Earlier, Hafeez said that all the stakeholders, including private industry and agriculture sector's main players, were taken on board in the preparation of the report and it would help in combating WTO challenges like that of globalisation.
He said the report had suggested a formula to reduce peak tariffs at a higher percentage and narrowing the tariff escalation.
Secondly, it had also recommended measures for reduction of tariffs in the context of multilateral trade negotiations and measures to liberalise trade unilaterally outside the WTO framework.
The report also suggested that as the lowering of rates resulting from such reductions benefited the exports of developed countries, the credit should be given for the unilateral tariff reductions.
The report also spelled out a number of policy measures to be taken by the government to maximise the benefits and minimise cost liberalisation.
These steps included tariff rationalisation, strengthening competitiveness, maximising agricultural production, enhancing capacity to meet technical requirements and institutional development.