ISLAMABAD: The Ministry of Commerce announced on Monday that the tariff concessions under Phase-II of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) would be implemented between the governments of Pakistan and China from 1st January 2020.
The protocol to amend the CPFTA-II had entered into force on 1st December 2019 through a notification. Pakistan Today had earlier reported that that the revised FTA would be implemented by January 2020.
As per the commerce ministry officials, the CPFTA-II shall immediately eliminate tariffs on 313 tariff lines of Pakistan’s export interest, giving Pakistani exports a preferential treatment, similar to that given to the ASEAN region. These 313 tariff lines cover over $8.7 billion worth of Pakistan’s global export and $64 billon worth of global Chinese imports.
Moreover, this would result in 75% of total trade liberalisation for Pakistan in terms of tariff lines and 92% in terms of trade volume.
