ISLAMABAD: The Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE) on Friday called for an export-oriented approach to trade agreements, stressing the need to align negotiations with industrial policy, exporters’ requirements and global market demand to translate preferential market access into tangible export growth.
The recommendation was made during a roundtable titled ‘From Signing to Exporting: Exploring the Export-Promoting Role of Trade Agreements,’ which brought together policymakers, trade experts, academics and private-sector representatives to discuss ways to improve Pakistan’s performance under Regional Trade Agreements (RTAs).
The discussion was based on PIDE’s forthcoming report, ‘Trade Agreements of Pakistan: A Critical Review of RTAs’ Export Performance,’ authored by Dr Amjad Masood and Aneela Zubair of PIDE’s Centre for Trade, Logistics and Infrastructure (CTLI).
Presenting the report’s findings, Dr Amjad Masood, Chief of Research and Director CTLI, said imports from RTA partners had grown significantly faster than exports since 2000, with every dollar of imports now matched by only around 20 cents in exports.
The report proposed an Export-Oriented RTA Framework focusing on export-led negotiations, alignment with industrial policy, demand-based selection of trading partners, sanitary and phytosanitary (SPS) market access alongside tariff reductions, deeper agreements and key performance indicator (KPI)-based reviews at the Ministry of Commerce.
Opening the discussion, Dr Manzoor Ahmad, former Pakistan Ambassador to the WTO and Chair of the WTO Trade Dispute Arbitration Panel, termed the study timely, observing that Pakistan’s latest trade agreement with Trkiye covered only around two per cent of its trade.
He noted that, apart from the agreement with China, Pakistan’s RTAs had largely failed to deliver the desired results, partly due to high domestic protection that encouraged business interests to favour weaker agreements.
He stressed that effective negotiations and implementation were as important as the concessions secured.
Dr Vaqar Ahmed, Member of the Economic Advisory Group and Team Lead, Oxford Policy Unit, observed that zero tariffs alone could not ensure sustained growth, while greater frequency of trade could.
He suggested using free trade agreement offers as a step towards unilateral trade liberalisation, strengthening connectivity with neighbouring countries and involving all provinces in the process.
Dr. Hassan Butt, Senior Advisor, CEEC, highlighted the importance of economic diplomacy and inter-ministerial coordination, pointing out that several memorandums of understanding signed through embassies remained unimplemented.
Sarrah Javad of APTMA said the market access secured by Pakistan often failed to cover tariff lines relevant to its exporters. She cited Phase II of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement, which added access to 313 tariff lines, many covering products Pakistan did not export.
Javed Kureishi, CEO of the Pakistan Business Council, called for clearly designated leads for review processes, supported by effective follow-up mechanisms.
Sarmad Pretu of the EXIM Bank of Pakistan identified collateral requirements as a major constraint on small and medium enterprises’ access to export financing, while outlining the bank’s evolving support for exporters.
Dr Zafar Mahmood, Professor at NUST, said Pakistan’s challenge was not a shortage of trade agreements but its inability to translate preferential market access into export competitiveness, calling for more active economic diplomacy.
Dr Adil Nakhoda, Chairperson of the Economic Advisory Group, urged Pakistan to pursue deeper trade agreements and reduce its most-favoured-nation (MFN) tariffs to facilitate integration into global value chains.
The roundtable was moderated by Dr Uzma Zia, Senior Research Economist at PIDE, and attended by representatives of the WTO, Economic Advisory Group, Pakistan Business Council, APTMA, EXIM Bank of Pakistan, Pakistan Single Window, IBA and SPRC, among others.
Participants appreciated PIDE’s initiative to bring together government, industry and academia, with the views and recommendations shared during the discussion to be incorporated into the final version of the report.