Following talks held during the Chinese Prime Minister’s recent visit to Pakistan the two countries have agreed to remove customs duty on 1,253 products by January 1, 2008. This decision was reached as part of the Early Harvest Programme (EHP) agreement designed to increase the volume of bilateral trade between China and Pakistan. As part of the deal duty on leather goods will be removed, thus opening up the Chinese market to Pakistan.
Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan told a press conference
that Pakistan will remove the duty on 486 tariff products by January 1, 2008 whilst China will cease duty charges on 767 products under the EHP agreement. Mr Khan said that the agreement included two main lists - a common list of items on which both countries will remove duty charges and a separate list for each country relating to items of specific export interest to each country.
Under the agreement, China will remove duty on a range of goods including home textiles, towels, cotton and blended fabrics, synthetic yarn, synthetic fabrics, sports goods, certain dyes, leather articles, and leather garments . Pakistan will remove the duty on some organic chemicals, leather machinery, textile machinery, parts, industrial washing machines, dying machines, and pressing and grinding machinery.
