Coronavirus may affect Pakistan's trade: Abdul Razak Dawood
By Web Deskupdated : 11 months ago

ISLAMABAD: 28, FEBRUARY, 2020: Pakistani authorities believe that the coronavirus global outbreak may affect country’s trade but have not yet calculated the exact losses to be incurred due to the epidemic.
While addressing a news conference on Thursday, the Adviser to Prime Miniter on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said, "We have not yet firmed up exact losses to be incurred because of this virus but it is going to slow down our imports from China."
He also said that Pakistan's exports went up in value terms by 2.2 percent in first seven month (July-Jan) period of the current fiscal year, while exports of Bangladesh declined by 5.2 percent, India 3 percent and Thailand 2.4 percent.
As per report, Abdul Razak Dawood, said that Washington shared list of hundreds of items other than textile and other areas of strength for inclusion into Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) with the objective to grant market access.
However, he did not share list of items with journalists.
The US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross handed over the list to him during his recent visit to Islamabad.
He stated that the government would analyse the list of items before making an assessment on real potential possessed for Pakistan’s request to grant market access into US market for boosting its struggling exports.
He said that Pakistan was hopeful that after striking a peace deal in Afghanistan, the US would establish long lasting and durable trade and economic ties with Pakistan.
"It’s a long-term process and no instant results can be achieved on immediate basis," the advisor said.
Responding the question about the Pakistan’s request for initiation of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, he said that it might require eight to 10 years to get the final shape while talking about the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), he said that its meeting would be called in Washington.
Pakistan, he said, raised the issue of travel advisory and told the US side that despite some improvement it did not help Islamabad attract investment from the US.
Commenting on the issue of GSP Plus from European Union (EU), he said that they were expecting that EU would extend its GSP Plus from 2020 to 2022 and its outcome was expected till first week of March 2020.
The EU had already communicated that their new set of rules were changed so it could be extended up to 2022, he added. (04)

Coronavirus may affect Pakistan's trade: Abdul Razak Dawood
By Web Deskupdated : 11 months ago

ISLAMABAD: 28, FEBRUARY, 2020: Pakistani authorities believe that the coronavirus global outbreak may affect country’s trade but have not yet calculated the exact losses to be incurred due to the epidemic.
While addressing a news conference on Thursday, the Adviser to Prime Miniter on Commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said, "We have not yet firmed up exact losses to be incurred because of this virus but it is going to slow down our imports from China."
He also said that Pakistan's exports went up in value terms by 2.2 percent in first seven month (July-Jan) period of the current fiscal year, while exports of Bangladesh declined by 5.2 percent, India 3 percent and Thailand 2.4 percent.
As per report, Abdul Razak Dawood, said that Washington shared list of hundreds of items other than textile and other areas of strength for inclusion into Generalised System of Preferences (GSP) with the objective to grant market access.
However, he did not share list of items with journalists.
The US Secretary of Commerce Wilbur Ross handed over the list to him during his recent visit to Islamabad.
He stated that the government would analyse the list of items before making an assessment on real potential possessed for Pakistan’s request to grant market access into US market for boosting its struggling exports.
He said that Pakistan was hopeful that after striking a peace deal in Afghanistan, the US would establish long lasting and durable trade and economic ties with Pakistan.
"It’s a long-term process and no instant results can be achieved on immediate basis," the advisor said.
Responding the question about the Pakistan’s request for initiation of Free Trade Agreement (FTA) talks, he said that it might require eight to 10 years to get the final shape while talking about the Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA), he said that its meeting would be called in Washington.
Pakistan, he said, raised the issue of travel advisory and told the US side that despite some improvement it did not help Islamabad attract investment from the US.
Commenting on the issue of GSP Plus from European Union (EU), he said that they were expecting that EU would extend its GSP Plus from 2020 to 2022 and its outcome was expected till first week of March 2020.
The EU had already communicated that their new set of rules were changed so it could be extended up to 2022, he added. (04)