Pakistan sings bilateral FTA with China, Malaysia, Sri Lanka so far: Senate told

ISLAMABAD, Jan 23 (APP):Minister
for Commerce and Textile Muhammad Pervaiz Malik on Tuesday informed the Senate
that Pakistan has signed bilateral Free Trade Agreements (FTA) with China,
Malaysia and Sri Lanka so far.
Replying
to various questions during Question Hour, the minister said in China Pakistan
FTA (CPFTA), both sides had already started negotiations for the second phase
of FTA since 2012.
The 8th round of negotiations under second phase was
held in September, 2017, wherein Pakistan again raised the matter of erosion of
preferences due to other trade agreements signed by China, he said.
He said in response, Chinese side agreed to
favorably consider the elimination of tariff on Pakistan’s priority items.
The minister said the government has announced
numbers of incentive for the growth of textile sector which have positive results.
About the incentives, the minister said sales tax of
five export oriented sectors namely textile, leather, sports goods, surgical
goods and carpets has been made part of zero rated tax regime from July 1,
2016.
The existing scheme of Drawback of Local Taxes
(DLTL) was continued in the FY2016-17, he said.
Similarly, he said Technology Up-gradation Fund
(TUF) Scheme for the textile sector has been notified w.e.f
July 1st, 2016. The mark-up rates on Export
Refinance Facility, has also been brought down to 3.0 per cent, he said.
To another question, the minister said Textile
Institute of Pakistan (TIP) was founded in 1994 under the aegis of APTMA.
The key objective was to provide professional
education and training in the field of Textile Sciences to young professionals
by honing their practical skills with providing them theoretical knowledge, he
said.
He said in order to run TIP independently, APTMA
created a trust under the name of National Textile Foundation (NTF). This
foundation was the caretaker of TIP and looked after its financial and capital
needs, he said.
He said the institute has purpose built construction
(200,000 sq.ft. covered area) along with a state-of-the-art architectural
design on 50 acres of land located on the National Highway, about 40 Kms from
the Karachi city centre.