The efficacy or otherwise of the Free Trade Agreements (FTAs) and bilateral trade agreements Pakistan has with some countries would be discussed at a 'Consultative Conference on Pakistan's FTAs' at a hotel here on November 13.
Pakistan Business Council (PBC), in collaboration with the International Finance Corporation (IFC), is arranging the conference. The objective is to promote government-business dialogue on trade related issues, especially the FTAs.
To facilitate this dialogue, international speakers from Germany, Thailand and India would be participating to discuss government-business cooperation in their respective countries. In addition to representatives of frontline Pakistani businesses, participation of senior officials from relevant ministries and academia is also expected.
According to PBC, Pakistan has in the recent past been following a strategy of signing bilateral trade agreements including Free Trade Agreements (FTAs), with some countries. This is part of the country's strategy of trying to avoid 'trade isolation' as more and more of Pakistan's major trading partners sign preferential trade agreements with its major competitors.
Pakistan's FTA with Sri Lanka has been in force since 2005, while the Chinese FTA came into force in July 2007. In addition, Pakistan is currently engaged in negotiations for FTAs with a number of other countries and regions.
Although there is no doubt that FTAs provide greater market access to Pakistani companies, they at the same time expose domestic markets and firms to international competition.
In order to benefit from FTAs and to overcome the challenges posed, it is important that the government and industry work out a joint strategy for not only negotiating FTAs but also for successfully implementing the ones which have been signed. Unfortunately, this government-business interaction is not taking place.
As a first step towards bringing the government and industry onto a common platform for discussing Pakistan's FTA strategy, the Pakistan Business Council is holding this consultative conference with the following objectives:
-- To provide a forum for both government and business to express their views on the FTA strategy being followed by the government.
-- To listen to international experts in the area of foreign trade, share their experience on how government and industry in other parts of the world are working together to develop national FTA strategies, and
-- To facilitate the formation of a permanent forum for government-industry dialogue on Pakistan's trade strategy.
The daylong consultative conference will be in the form of four panel discussions with a lead speaker making a 20-minute presentation. This will be followed by a question-and-answer session in which the audience and other panel members will express their opinions. The four panels and the lead speakers would be as follows:
-- Pakistan's FTA strategy: - senior representative from Pakistan Ministry of Commerce.
-- FTA philosophy and current strategies in the global context-Thai experience: - Winichai Chaemchaeng, Director-General, Department of Trade Negotiations, Thailand Ministry of Commerce.
-- FTAs, means in themselves or part of multilateral trade agreements: - Professor Andreas Falke, Advisor of Trade Policy, German Industry Federation, and;
-- FTAs and the role of business advocacy groups-Indian experience: - N.Kumar, former President of the Confederation of Indian Industry and Vice-Chairaman of Sanmar Group.