Businesses asked to explore South American markets

KARACHI: The Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) has stressed the need to explore South American markets, considering huge potential of Pakistani products in those economies.

In a statement issued on Saturday, the FPCCI said that South America is a market of more than 400 million people with an average per capita income $12,000.

FPCCI Senior Vice President Khalid Tawab said that Pakistan signed an agreement with a common market of South America (MERCOSUR; a biggest trade bloc of South America) on Trade in July 2006, which initiated the process of negotiations for the Preferential Trade
Agreement, but there is no information regarding the implementation of this
agreement.

Pakistan is co-member with South American countries in one trade agreement other than WTO; that is Global System of Trade Preferences (GSTP), which came into being in 1989, but its functionality is not up to the mark.

The FPCCI said that peoples ethnicity of South American countries are similar to Europe and the US. At present, the share of this common market of South America is just 0.6 percent in exports of Pakistan and 1.6 percent in imports of Pakistan.