Free Trade Agreement Pakistan Turkey
“The Turkish government sent a delegation to Pakistan last month and we agreed to improve our trade relations,” said Abdul Razaq Dawood, adviser to Pakistan`s prime minister on trade, textiles, industry, production and investment. Turkey, a Contracting Party to the General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade 1947 (GATT) and a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) since 1995, implements free trade agreements in accordance with Article XXIV of the GATT 1947. Under this article, Turkey could grant, under certain conditions, more favourable treatment to its trading partners under a customs union or free trade area, without extending this treatment to all WTO members. The decision to start negotiations for a comprehensive bilateral free trade agreement for trade in goods, services and investment was adopted at the 4th Meeting of the High-Level Council for Strategic Cooperation (HLSCC), held in Islamabad in February 2015. FTA negotiations began in Ankara in October 2015. During negotiations held in Islamabad from August 29 to 31, the two countries agreed to remove 85 percent of the tariffs. [2] The two leaders promised to increase the volume of bilateral trade, which currently stands at $800 million. The Turkey-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (also known as the Pakistan-Turkey ETA) is a free trade agreement between Pakistan and Turkey. [1] The free trade agreement is expected to increase bilateral trade to $5 billion between 2016 and 2019, and then to $10 billion by 2022. [3] [4] The free trade agreement between the two countries is expected to be signed before the end of 2016. [5] The Turkish Association of Industrialists and Businessmen and the Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry supported the free trade agreement. [6] Article 16 of Decision No 16, without prejudice to WTO provisions, constitutes an important legal basis for Turkish Free Trade Agreements (FTA). Within the framework of the Customs Union, Turkey is orienting its trade policy towards the EU`s common commercial policy.
This alignment concerns both autonomous regimes and preferential agreements with third countries. In today`s world, countries tend to participate in bilateral and regional free trade agreements, given that the World Trade Organization (WTO) has achieved a high degree of liberalization, WTO rules are not sufficient under current conditions, and the multilateral trading system is ineffective in allowing better market access. As a result of this trend, there are about 400 free trade agreements that are notified to the WTO. Alongside the EU, Turkey negotiates and excludes free trade agreements with third countries in order to negotiate and conclude free trade agreements. Together with the EU`s Common Customs Tariff, preferential trade regimes are the most important part of trade policy towards third countries. The 15th meeting of the Joint Economic Commission (JEC) between Turkey and Pakistan was held in Ankara from 15 to 16 October 2014. . .