Pakistan on right course to secure GSP Plus extension: EU official

ISLAMABAD: Pakistan was on course towards securing an extension in the much-needed concessional trade with European Union (EU) bloc, an official said on Wednesday.

"I am confident Pakistan is on the right trajectory towards maintaining Generalised Scheme of Preferences (GSP) Plus status, but in order to do so it must continue to meet the targets that are a part of it,” Sajad Karim, member European Parliament, said at a meeting with a Pakistani delegation in Brussels.

The GSP Plus status, granted from January 2014, permitted nearly 20 percent of Pakistani exports to enter the 28-member countries of EU bloc at zero tariff and 70 percent at preferential rates. Pakistan was among the nine countries – including its textile rivals Bangladesh and Sri Lanka – that won the GSP Plus status.

Pakistan, however, could lose GSP Plus anytime till 2023 for noncompliance with anyone of the 27 conventions related to human and labour rights. A statement received here from Belgium said the delegation handed over evidence on the country's current state of play regarding GSP+ implementation to Karim, who heads South Asia Trade Monitoring Committee (SATMC) within the European Parliament.

Karim said the evidence given to the committee would prove ever useful in regard to EU-Pakistan trade relationship.

"Last week’s report on the current state of play of GSP+ in Pakistan demonstrated the progress made by the country within the criteria set by the scheme, albeit [there are] areas of improvement [that] still needed [to be addressed].”

Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi last week directed authorities to ensure continuation of (GSP) Plus, for primarily strengthening the country’s textile export industry, beyond 2018.

“Commerce division and relevant foreign missions abroad (are directed) to maintain a focused approach towards ensuring continuation of GSP Plus status…,” the statement quoted PM Abbasi as saying at a meeting held to review the efforts afoot to secure the said status down the line.

The statement said the country’s exports to EU had registered 45 percent increase while value-added textile products 88 percent over the past five years.

The country, facing a steep fall in exports, desperately needs concessional markets to narrow its ballooning trade deficit, which surged 24.5 percent to $17.963 billion in the first half of the current fiscal year of 2017/18.

Khurram Dastgir Khan, defence minister, Senator Syed Shibli Faraz, chairman of the senate standing committee on commerce and textiles, MNA Siraj Muhammad Khan, chairman of the national assembly's standing committee on commerce and textiles, and MNA Fehmida Mirza, former speaker/member of pakistan eu parliamentary friendship group represented Pakistan in the meeting. The statement said the meeting follows the publication of a European Commission report last Friday demonstrating the progress made by the country over the past two years in relation to the EU's beneficial trade scheme.