KARACHI: Federal Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood on Sunday said that Pakistan is expected to get 'generalised system of preference (GSP) Plus' status to avail duty concessions on its exports to European Union member countries by January 2014. Talking to reporters at the inaugural ceremony of Pakistan-Indonesia Business Forum (PIBF) at a hotel here, the Secretary said that the new legislation by the EU for qualify for 'GSP Plus' status has bright chances for Pakistan to get.
"I strongly hope that Pakistan will qualify for this status by January 2014", he addd.
He said that after long efforts from both sides, 'Preferential Trade Agreement' (PTA) has been signed between Pakistan and Indonesia. "Now, it would be presented before the parliament for approval and it is expected the PTA would be enforced by January 2012," he added.
Regarding, Pak-Turkey trade, the Commerce Secretary said that talks to sign a PTA between Pakistan and Turkey were underway. "We have had several rounds of talks regarding signing of PTA between the two brotherly countries and positive news is expected to be heard by the end of this month", he added.
Earlier, speaking at the inaugural ceremony of PIBF, the Secretary said that seven rounds were held to finalise the Pak-Indonesia PTA without any conclusion. He pointed out that the Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan, Ishak Latuconsina, played a very important role to make it possible to sign this trade agreement.
The Indonesian Ambassador in his speech said that PIBF platform would certainly provide new opportunities of collaboration in a co-ordinated way to the business communities of both sides to project their interests and their priorities. It will also provide the opportunity to exchange ideas and develop coherent strategies to further promote their business plans, he added.
"We are witnessing today the opening of a significant new chapter in the trade and business interaction and discourse between the business communities of Indonesia and Pakistan with the inaugural of the PIBF", Ishak said, adding that this forum would be an important venue for helping the entrepreneurs of both sides to expand their business interests. "It is a timely initiative, since the negotiations for the Indonesia-Pakistan PTA had been finalised successfully in Jakarta last month, which will lead to Free-Trade Agreement soon", he said.
He said that the PIBF is aimed to provide opportunities of collaboration to the corporate sectors. "We are well aware of the fact that the more connections we made, the stronger our relationship will become", he said. "I hope that our Pakistani friends will utilise PIBF to explore potential business prospects and to deepen their existing partnerships with Indonesia", the Ambassador added.
He said it is a source of great pleasure and satisfaction that the PIBF is being launched when the environment is very conducive for the bilateral trade. "We have many supporting factors at this particular time such as Indonesia's Chair of Asan, Pakistan's focus on 'Vision East Asia Policy', signing of the trade agreement on PTA, emergence of Asean as the future market, and the strong desire in the business community of both sides to enhance and strengthen the trade linkages", he said.
As regards Pakistan-Asean relations, he said that Indonesia has always supported and will continue to support Pakistan's efforts to become the Full Dialogue Partner of Asean. Indonesia is the largest economy in the South East Asia, a region increasingly becoming the focus of the world's attention, he said, adding: "We greatly value our relationship with Pakistan, and we would like to see even more robust trade between our tow brotherly countries after the PIBF".
The CEO of Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Tariq Iqbalpuri, said that trade relations between Pakistan and Indonesia would further increase after signing of the PTA. He assured that TDAP would provide every facility to the business communities of both sides to increase trade volumes between Pakistan and Indonesia.
President of PIBF Abdul Majid Haji Muhammad said that Pakistan and Indonesia are two big Muslim countries and they enjoy very good bilateral relations. However, he said, despite very strong relations, the trade volume between the two brotherly countries is very low at only $800 million.
Zubair Motiwala, Chairman of Sindh Board of Investment, said that there is huge potential to increase bilateral trade between the two big Muslim countries. He said the most growing Halal food industry has huge potential and the business community of both sides should focus on this growing sector in the world. He pointed out that the top five Halal food exporters are non-Muslim countries including Australia, New Zealand, Brazil and others. "We the Muslim countries can easily capture the one trillion dollars Halal market", he added.
Sindh Minister for Information Technology Raza Haroon, business community leader Siraj Kassem Teli, President Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry Mian Abrar, former KCCI president Majyd Aziz and Consul General of Indonesia in Karachi also spoke on this occasion and highlighted the importance of PIBF. They emphasised on increasing bilateral trade relations between the two brotherly countries.
A large number of dignitaries from business, trade and industry and diplomats of different countries attended the event. A Memorandum of Association of PIBF was signed by Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahood and the Indonesian Ambassador to Pakistan Ishak Latuconsina.