ISLAMABAD: United States is one of the largest trading partners of Pakistan and it will be in the interest of both countries to enhance the bilateral trade volume which has been hovering around $5 billion for the last five years, Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif said on Wednesday.
In a meeting with Ambassador Michael Froman, US Trade Representative to Pakistan, the prime minister said Pakistan would like to further enhance that partnership and build closer economic ties with the US.
The prime minister thanked the ambassador for granting observer status to Pakistan on the US-Central Asia Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA).
He said foreign companies were making handsome profits on their investments in Pakistan which indicated great opportunities and potential of the country.
“We are executing mega energy and infrastructure projects across the country. Our energy situation has improved significantly and we will be able to overcome the energy shortage by the year 2018,” a press release quoted the prime minister as saying.
The prime minister expressed hope that the 8th round of TIFA Council meeting would be very fruitful and both countries would find new ways to increase bilateral trade.
He said Pakistan had made substantial progress to protect Intellectual Property Rights (IPR) and was removed from the Priority Watch List for IPR by the US government.
Ambassador Michael Froman said Pakistan had made tremendous progress on several fronts in the last three years.
The security situation in the country improved considerably which was essential for investments and businesses, he added.
He said Pakistan’s GDP growth around 4.7 per cent was reflective of the economic turnaround achieved by sustained efforts of the government.
The meeting was also attended by Minister for Commerce Khurrum Dastgir, Minister for Finance Muhammad Ishaq Dar and other senior officials.
The visiting delegation included David Hale, US Ambassador to Pakistan, Matthew Vogel,
Deputy US Trade Representative, Ms Erin Frautschy Barrows, Ms Zeba Reyazuddin and Rob Garverick.
Pakistan has asked Washington to grant preferential market access, particularly for textile products to arrest the steady decline in its exports.
“There are several reasons for which Pakistan deserves preferential access to the US textile market,” Minister of Commerce, Khurram Dastgir Khan said during 8th Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Council meeting on Wednesday.
Mr Khan is heading Pakistan’s delegation to deliberate upon trade ties between the two countries. The US delegation was led by USTR Ambassador Michael Froman, United States Trade Representative.
TIFA was signed by Pakistan and USA in 2003. The TIFA council is the apex body tasked with developing trade and investment relations between Pakistan and the United States, and resolving outstanding issues between the two countries.
At the outset, the minister also demanded from the US delegation to revise travel advisory, ease visa regime for exporters of IT related services to further strengthen trade ties between two countries.
The minister elaborated in detail the current economic situation in the country. Mr Froman was of the view that TIFA serves as a premier forum for advancing our trade investment relationship.
“Current economic relationship with Pakistan is just a fraction of what it could be and with TIFA we can seek that potential,” he said
During the meeting, the two sides discussed, ways and means to improve access of Pakistani exports to the United States, including those of textiles, agricultural items, enforcement of Intellectual Property Rights in Pakistan, establishing dispute resolution mechanisms, opening up of defence procurement in Afghanistan to Pakistani companies, holding the next business opportunities conference in Pakistan and other trade related matters.
