Agriculture remains focus in trade negotiations

Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has said that agriculture was Pakistan’s core interest in trade negotiations at all international platforms, particularly for domestic support to market access and cotton.He made these remarks while representing Pakistan at WorldTrade Organisation's (WTO) Ministerial Conference in Paris on the sidelines of Organisation of Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD), a statement said on Friday.The minister emphasised that Pakistan would support a robust post-Nairobi work programme, keeping in view all perspectives of food security on the table.Khan said as the first country in the region to ratify the Trade Facilitation Agreement, an ever-more stable, peaceful, democratic and growing Pakistan was poised to be the economic and trade hub of Central Asia and South Asia, which would open new doors to the rest of the world.Pakistan reaffirmed the need for enhancing trade opportunities coupled with removing capacity constraints faced by developing countries and least developed countries (LDCs) so as to facilitate their smooth blending into the global value chains.Khan said, “We renew our pledge to discipline global trade rules with due deference to prioritising development objectives.”Pakistan’s agriculture exports would have a level playing field,as WTO has eliminated agriculture export subsidies by developed countries and put more restrictions on our developing-country competitors.The minister also participated in the meeting of the Trade in Services Agreement (TISA). The meeting was attended by the Ministers of 23 TISA negotiating parties (EU as a single entity). TISA Ministerial is held every year on the sidelines of the OECD Ministerial Council.The minister emphasised that the WTO should focus on the development side of e-commerce as this was going to be thebackbone of the future trade systems. “Developing countries must be provided technical assistance to put in place regulatory infrastructure for e-commerce development and promotion,” he added.He also informed the ministers about Pakistan’s economic reforms under the present government, which have significantly stabilised the economy.News SourceNews Collated byPAKISSAN.comCourtesy The News