Pakistan, Turkey FTA to increase trade

KARACHI: The free trade agreement (FTA) between Pakistan and Turkey can potentially increase bilateral trade with direct impact in the emerging geo-political scenario, Businessmen Panel (BMP-Federal) Secretary General Ahmad Jawad said on Monday.

To a query, Jawad said seven rounds of negotiations have taken place till 2018 wherein both countries had agreed to reduce customs and regulatory duties by 85 percent; however, the agreement was yet to be formalised.

Jawad hoped that with the new Economic Framework Agreement and FTA, trade activities would increase and achieve the initial target worth $2 billion trade between the two countries. “The current volume of trade ranging around $650 million does not reflect the close relations between both countries and the opportunities therein,” he said.

The BMP official said the D-8 and ECO Chamber of Commerce needed to be used to improve regional coordination and business relations between Pakistan, Iran and Turkey with a practical proposal.

“In fact, emerging geo-political scenarios and economic crises have brought the two countries even closer to each other," he said, and added that it was expected that close cooperation between Pakistan and Turkey in context of FTA would be fruitful and also ensure peace, stability and development in the region.