ISLAMABAD - Federal Minister for Commerce Pervaiz Malik on Tuesday said that Pakistan and the United States have cordial trade relations and that trade between the two countries stood at $6 billion during the last fiscal year 2016-17.
The minister stated this in a meeting with US Ambassador David Hale. He further said that trade relations between the two countries are governed by Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) which was signed in 2003 and covers Pak-US GSP Programme and Business Opportunities Conference (BOC). The minister said that Pakistan is preparing to host fifth BOC. BOC is a government-to-government arrangement and Pakistan is preparing to host fifth BOC, he added.
Malik said that Pakistan is also looking forward to further improve bilateral trade with Afghanistan and facilitate the transit trade. "Pakistan was looking forward to hold 7th APTTCA meeting which was scheduled on September 10-11, 2017 but it was unilaterally postponed by Afghanistan", the minister said. He said that the US should extend cooperation to Pakistan in different sectors particularly agriculture.
The ambassador said that Pakistan is lucrative for investment and that the US businessmen are interested in investing in Pakistan. He further said that GSP is the key and Pakistan is making good use of it. David said that Business Opportunities Conference will help Pakistan in building awareness of US businesses and will result in sector wise discussion and cooperation.
Earlier, the European Union Ambassador to Pakistan Jean Francois Cautain called on the commerce minister. The matters of mutual interest were discussed during the meeting.
