WASHINGTON: Pakistan and the United States had comprehensive talks on a range of key issues, including enhancing the export of Pakistani mangoes and dates to the US and more market access for Pakistani textiles, Commerce Minister Syed Naveed Qamar has said.
Other matters discussed included boosting US investments in Pakistan’s agriculture
sector, especially in the development of hybrid, climate-resilient seeds as well as
supporting Pakistani IT and tech industry, he told reporters Saturday at the end of his
three-day visit to Washington during which he also co-chaired the meeting of Pakistan-
US Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) Ministerial Council.
The minister said that significant progress has been made in some of the critical areas
while further headway was expected during the course of the discussion that would
follow.
He said the TIFA meeting, held after a gap of eight years, reflected an understanding
and commitment of the two countries to pursue a broad-based agenda and make
mutually beneficial trade and investment ties an important pillar of the relationship.
Naveed Qamar said that the two sides have agreed to have regular follow-up
engagements during the current year to ensure progress on all issues to achieve
tangible results. It was also agreed to convene the next TIFA Council Ministerial
meeting in Islamabad in early 2024.
Expressing satisfaction over the ongoing and forthcoming high-level dialogues in
various sectors including energy, climate change etc., the minister said that Pakistan
was now being seen as United States; sovereign trading partner. “The United States is
an important country for us and we want our relations to further grow in all possible
areas,” he said.
Talking about the economic challenges being faced by the country, the minister said
that the tough decisions taken by Pakistan to revive the IMF programme, have started
showing results.
“In anticipation of revival of the programme, the reserves had started increasing and the
rupee-dollar parity was witnessing stability”; he said.
The minister expressed the hope that with the formal approval of revival of the
programme by the IMF Board, the reserves would increase with inflows from friendly
countries and international banks. He, however, stated that the revival of the
programme alone was not a panacea for all ills.
“We need structural reforms. Our processes need to be changed.”
Responding to a question, the minister said that the revival of the dialogue would
significantly boost the confidence of the business community and would help in
providing them with a conducive environment marked by economic stability.
