The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on Friday called for an export-oriented approach to trade agreements, stressing the need to align negotiations with industrial policy, exporters\u2019 requirements and global market demand to translate preferential market access into tangible export growth.
\nThe recommendation was made during a roundtable titled \u201cFrom Signing to Exporting: Exploring the Export-Promoting Role of Trade Agreements,\u201d which brought together policymakers, trade experts, academics and private-sector representatives to discuss ways to improve Pakistan\u2019s performance under Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs).
\nThe discussion was based on PIDE\u2019s forthcoming report, \u201cTrade Agreements of Pakistan: A Critical Review of RTAs\u2019 Export Performance,\u201d authored by Dr Amjad Masood and Aneela Zubair of PIDE\u2019s Centre for Trade, Logistics and Infrastructure (CTLI).
\nPresenting the report\u2019s findings, Dr Amjad Masood, Chief of Research and Director CTLI, said imports from RTA partners had grown significantly faster than exports since 2000, with every dollar of imports now matched by only around 20 cents in exports.
\nThe report proposed an Export-Oriented RTA Framework focusing on export-led negotiations, alignment with industrial policy, demand-based selection of trading partners, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) market access alongside tariff reductions, deeper agreements and key performance indicator (KPI)-based reviews at the Ministry of Commerce.
\nOpening the discussion, Dr Manzoor Ahmad, former Pakistan Ambassador to the WTO and Chair of the WTO Trade Dispute Arbitration Panel, termed the study timely, observing that Pakistan\u2019s latest trade agreement with T\u00fcrkiye covered only around two per cent of its trade.
\nHe noted that, apart from the agreement with China, Pakistan\u2019s RTAs had largely failed to deliver the desired results, partly due to high domestic protection that encouraged business interests to favour weaker agreements.
\nHe stressed that effective negotiations and implementation were as important as the concessions secured.
\nDr Vaqar Ahmed, Member of the Economic Advisory Group and Team Lead, Oxford Policy Unit, observed that zero tariffs alone could not ensure sustained growth, while greater frequency of trade could.
\nHe suggested using free trade agreement offers as a step towards unilateral trade liberalisation, strengthening connectivity with neighbouring countries and involving all provinces in the process.
\nDr. Hassan Butt, Senior Advisor, CEEC, highlighted the importance of economic diplomacy and inter-ministerial coordination, pointing out that several memorandums of understanding signed through embassies remained unimplemented.
\nSarrah Javad of APTMA said the market access secured by Pakistan often failed to cover tariff lines relevant to its exporters. She cited Phase II of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement, which added access to 313 tariff lines, many covering products Pakistan did not export.
\nJaved Kureishi, CEO of the Pakistan Business Council, called for clearly designated leads for review processes, supported by effective follow-up mechanisms.
\nSarmad Pretu of the EXIM Bank of Pakistan identified collateral requirements as a major constraint on small and medium enterprises\u2019 access to export financing, while outlining the bank\u2019s evolving support for exporters.
\nDr Zafar Mahmood, Professor at NUST, said Pakistan\u2019s challenge was not a shortage of trade agreements but its inability to translate preferential market access into export competitiveness, calling for more active economic diplomacy.
\nDr Adil Nakhoda, Chairperson of the Economic Advisory Group, urged Pakistan to pursue deeper trade agreements and reduce its most-favoured-nation (MFN) tariffs to facilitate integration into global value chains.
\nThe roundtable was moderated by Dr Uzma Zia, Senior Research Economist at PIDE, and attended by representatives of the WTO, Economic Advisory Group, Pakistan Business Council, APTMA, EXIM Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Single Window, IBA and SPRC, among others.
\nParticipants appreciated PIDE\u2019s initiative to bring together government, industry and academia, with the views and recommendations shared during the discussion to be incorporated into the final version of the report.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on Friday called for an export-oriented approach to trade agreements, stressing the need to align negotiations with industrial policy, exporters\u2019 requirements and global market demand to translate preferential market access into tangible export growth. The recommendation was made during a roundtable titled \u201cFrom Signing to Exporting: Exploring the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":577539,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-577524","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-national"],"yoast_head":"\n