Pak-China signs pact for trade cooperation

Karachi: Pakistan and China have achieved two major milestones in co-operation in economic sector during talks between top level officials from the two countries here this week, a senior official at Pakistan embassy said.

One of the major achievements in the realm of economic co-operation was completion of negotiations and signing of agreement on Joint Study for Comprehensive Economic Co-operation here early this week, the Counsellor Commercial and Economic at Pakistan embassy Dr Naeem Khan said.

The pact was signed from Chinese side by its Vice-Minister Yie Ziying while Pakistan was represented by Senior Joint Secretary Ministry of Commerce Zahid Bashir, he added.

The deal, he said will benefit the think tanks, major economic and business groups of both Pakistan and China to understand in a better way the areas of economic co-operation for the mutual benefits in trade and investment. The negotiations for joint study group were initiated some two years back and the agreement was signed, Dr Naeem said.

Dr Naeem Khan said that the pact covers all areas of economic co-operation including service, trade and investment. The second headway was achieved in the economic sector on Wednesday when both countries successfully concluded the fifth round of negotiations on the bilateral agreement on service trade and market access to the service sector.

The two sides have agreed that they will choose a time to sign the pact after getting approval from their respective countries. The negotiations from Pakistani sides were led by Senior Joint Secretary, Ministry of Commerce Zahid Bashir. The two countries signed a free trade agreement covering goods trade and investment co-operation in November 2006 and a supplement pact on boosting bilateral investment in October.