Pakistan should not finalise FTA with Thailand in haste

Nation paying the price for incompetence of Bureaucracy

President Pakistan Businessmen and Intellectuals Forum (PBIF), President AKIA, Senior Vice Chairman of the Businessmen Panel of FPCCI and former provincial minister Mian Zahid Hussain business community is not satisfied with the outcome of FTA talks with China.

FTA with the friendly Country should be well-adjusted in favour of both nations as it has inflicted heavy losses on Pakistani economy since a decade, he said.

Mian Zahid Hussain said that China has agreed to allow entry to sixty-eight Pakistani products to its markets while it is considering more relaxations to items already included in the agreement but it is not enough.

Both Countries would hold FTA talks in January which should be meaningful while incompetent officials should be kept away from the talks.

Incompetent officials have finalised trade deals which has damaged Pakistani economy while inaction on the part of the government has emboldened the elements fond of mismanagement, he observed.

The business leader said that Government has planned to finalise FTA with Thailand in January despite the reservations of the local business community.

Both the countries will exchange their lists of items in November as Pakistan wants access to its one hundred products including year, woven textiles, readymade garments, leather products, and surgical instruments and sports goods.

Thailand has a very stable auto and auto parts industry which is included in the FTA may damage the local industry.