KARACHI: The Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) has granted concessionary rate of customs duty or zero percent duty on the import of 6,786 items from China with effect from January 1, 2020.
The concession was granted vide SRO 1640 dated December 31, 2019.
China Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) is fully operational from January 1, 2020. Both countries had started negotiations on FTA-II during PML(N) government as the then Commerce Minister Engineer Khurram Dastgir Khan maintained that the first phase of FTA with China was properly negotiated.
Former Secretary Commerce, Younus Dagha also made hectic efforts to get a better deal.
Both countries held about ten rounds of parleys to finalise the agreement and finally it was signed during the incumbent government. Official sources claim that all issues of FTA are resolved and Federal Board of Revenue (FBR) will exchange electronic trade data with China that will disseminate real time information.
China has given additional incentives on 313 Pakistani products due to which Pakistan’s exports to China will further grow by about $4 billion within 6-7 years.