Pakistan, Indonesia may finalise PTA by year-end

Saturday, November 21, 2009
By our correspondent

LAHORE: Indonesian Ambassador Ishaq Latuconsina has said preferential trade agreement (PTA) between Pakistan and Indonesia will be finalised by the end of this year aimed at harnessing trade potential of the two countries.

Speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday, the ambassador said negotiations on the PTA were well on way and the sixth and final round of talks would be held in Jakarta on December 29. Fifth round was held in Islamabad.

He stressed the need for exchange of subject specialists and sector-specific experts, which would enable both countries to learn more and more from each other’s experiences.Latuconsina said sharing of experiences had no match so Pakistan and Indonesia must share their experiences in the larger interest of the business community.

Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry said Pakistan and Indonesia were two most populous Muslim countries. “The two countries together have a population of over 410 million and constitute about 25 per cent of the total Muslim population of the world.”

He said although trade between Pakistan and Indonesia had been gradually growing from $645.4 million in 2004-05 to $1,254 million in 2008, it was still at a very low level in view of the size of the two markets.

He said trade balance was in Indonesia’s favour, adding Indonesia’s imports from Pakistan needed to be increased to create a winñwin situation for both sides. He said Indonesia could make direct investment in industries and could also enter into joint ventures with Pakistani counterparts. “These potentials need to be studied and monitored by commercial sections of the diplomatic missions for promoting trade and investment.”