By IANS,
Islamabad : The European Union (EU) hasn’t got approval from the World Trade Organisation (WTO) member nations, specially India, for a preferential trade package to Pakistan, a media report said Monday.
“We have been informed unofficially by EU trade officials that the preferential trade package announced last year for Pakistan is a gone story,” an official told the Dawn.
He said EU officials have opined that the matter would no more be pursued at the WTO since India was not permitting the adoption of the package.
The EU had announced time-bound duty-free access to Pakistan for 75 items to compensate for losses due to last year’s floods and had approached the WTO to seek a waiver for one year on trade preferences to Pakistan on products amounting to nearly 900 million euros.
A source in the WTO secretariat said that there won’t be fresh initiative from the EU to persuade India to agree to allow the preferential package.
Besides India’s opposition, the issue was also handled badly by Islamabad, particularly by the commerce ministry, said another source.