Friday, July 03, 2009
By Aftab Maken
ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and China has agreed to include eleven sectors from services under the Free Trade Agreement (FTA) to evolve a transparent and predictable service regime for attracting FDI from China, reveals an official who concludes recently PakistanóChina talks on services on Thursday.
Both the countries agreed to include business, communication, construction & related engineering, distribution, education, environment, finance, health & related social, tourism & travel, recreational & cultural sporting and transport services, he added.
Pakistan exported services of $4 billion against the Chinese imports in services of $10 billion with deficit. The services consist of the government services, transportation, business services, travel, communication, computer & information, finance, construction, royalties & licence fees, insurance and personal, cultural and recreational services.
The diplomatic notes of this recently concluded talk on services under the FTA would be exchanged on July 28-29 and after 30 days, the free trade commission will formally make the agreement operational, an official familiar with the talks told The News.
The agreement also does not apply for the sector, which encompasses air traffic rights, services supplied by governments, procurement of services by government agencies, subsidies or grants can be provided only to domestic services supplier, general exemption for security related services and citizenship or employment on a permanent basis, the agreement stated. China under this agreement will also make investments as joint ventures and it has also provided 100pc equity in sectors that include computers & related services, research & development services, distribution, retail/wholesale and commission agent services, environmental services, tourism & related services and maintenance & repair of motor vehicles, it said.
The merchandise exports of Pakistan would become competitive both in China and globally through quality services, transfer of technology, capacity enhancement and employment creation, the agreement hoped. It further expected that the agreement will attract Chinese investment in infrastructure, energy and waterways (dams and bridges), human resource development and technical training and research & development.
Overall the country’s exports of services in 2003 were $2.96 billion; $2.74 billion in 2004; $3.67 billion in 2005; $3.5 billion in 2006 and $3.75 billion in 2007.
|
ISSN 1563-9479 
