By NNN-APP
Washington : The US-Pakistan trade grew in the year 2007 and the two countries continue to expand their bilateral trading relationship, particularly through US helping Pakistan foster a climate conducive to increased foreign investment, a new American annual report said.
The US Trade Representative delivering the 2008 Trade Policy Agenda and 2007 Annual Report to Congress on Tuesday noted that a top priority for the Bush Administration in South Asia has been to build a relationship with Pakistan as a strategic partner for the long term.
America’s highest ranking international trade official Susan Schwab also reported that in 2007, the Administration completed drafting the proposed Reconstruction Opportunity Zones (ROZ) legislation and is working with Congress regarding introduction of the requisite legislative measure for launch of the initiative.
Under the plan, President Bush, who proposed the initiative after his meeting with President Musharraf in Islamabad in March 2006, is seeking authorization from Congress to allow certain products manufactured in designated zones in Afghanistan and border areas of Pakistan to enter the United States duty-free.
This initiative is designed to support counter-terrorism efforts by spurring job creation and investment in the areas.
Schwab acknowledged that “Pakistan has been a critical partner on the front line in the fight against al Qaeda and the struggle to counter extremism —U.S. economic support for Pakistan and our growing bilateral trade relationship have been important contributors to Pakistan’s significant economic growth and development in the years since 2001.”
Continuing, she underscored that the US task is even more important now as the Pakistani people look to democratic transition in the wake of tragic assassination of former prime minister Benazir Bhutto.
The United States remains Pakistan’s largest trading partner and the two-way trade between the two allies has been growing in the last few years with Pakistan’s exports to the country, mainly textiles, in the fiscal year 2006-07 totaling around $ 3.1 billion. The US exports to Pakistan have been in the form of high-tech commercial airplanes and modern equipment.
In pursuit of enhanced trade and economic ties, in 2003 the United States and Pakistan signed a TIFA and held meetings in 2005 and 2006 .The next meeting is scheduled to be held in the spring of 2008.
The report applauded the progress the Pakistani government has made in recent years to improve copyright enforcement, including taking significant steps against unauthorized optical disc production and exports of pirated optical discs.
Further, it created the Intellectual Property Rights Organization (IPRO). In 2007, USTR continued efforts to finalize a bilateral investment treaty with Pakistan.
Ambassador Schwab met twice with Pakistan’s former commerce minister Humayun Khan in 2007, once in Washington and once in Lahore, Pakistan.
They covered a number of priorities in the bilateral economic relationship, including ROZs, intellectual property rights, and the status of negotiations on a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT).
The USTR also participated in the October 2007 US-Pakistan Economic Dialogue meetings co-chaired by the State Department’s Under Secretary for Economic Affairs Reuben Jeffery and Pakistan’s Economic Advisor Salman Shah.