Friday, 11 January, 2013 ISLAMABAD INP T HAILAND has expressed its intention to sign a Free Trade Agreement with Pak- istan to further promote trade and economic rela- tions between the two countries. The intention was conveyed by Thai- land’s Foreign Minister Surapong Tovichakchaikul during talks with Pak- istan’s Foreign Minister Hina Rabbani Khar in Islamabad on Thursday. The two sides also discussed inaugu- ration of a Pakistan-Thailand Joint busi- ness forum to promote bilateral trade and investment. Later, addressing a joint news con- ference along with her Thai counterpart, Khar said a joint study has already been conducted for the feasibility of the FTA between the two countries. She said both the countries enjoyed excellent relations and trade volume had surpassed the one billion dollars mark last year. She said a joint trade committee had been tasked to speed up work on finalisation of the FTA which would be mutually beneficial for the two countries. She said both countries are commit- ted to institutionalising their relations and in this regard a joint economic com- mission of the two countries will meet next month. The commission’s meeting will discuss ways and means to further augment bilateral relations in areas of trade, defense and security. Khar said both countries are close to signing two agreements. One relates to the exemption of diplomatic visa while the other will be signed between the for- eign services academy of the two coun- tries. She said Pakistan and Thailand enjoyed historic cultural relations. “There is a dire need to evolve a mecha- nism for promoting people-to-people contacts between Pakistan and Thai- land,” Khar said. She said 56,000 Pak- istanis visited Thailand last year as tourists. The foreign minister said Thailand was an important country of ASEAN and Pakistan attached great importance to becoming a full dialogue member of this organisation. Describing his talks with Pakistani counterpart as fruitful, the Thai foreign minister said he was satisfied with the trade volume with Pakistan and wanted to further speed up the process in the fu- ture. He said his government wanted Thai investors to invest in areas of infrastruc- ture development, food processing, gem stones and auto parts development in Pakistan. He said the joint economic commission will meet soon to formulate concrete measures for the enhancement of bilateral economic and trade rela- tions. He said both countries had also agreed to enhance their security and de- fense cooperation. “We have agreed to enhance cooperation to combat terror- ism and other international crimes through increased intelligence sharing,” he said. The Thai foreign minister said Thai- land will soon host the third meeting on the security cooperation to discuss is- sues relating to terrorism and other crimes. Appreciating Pakistan’s con- structive role in the region, he said Thai- land was ready to work closely with Pakistan for the benefit of the region. He assured that his country will con- tinue to extend support to Pakistan in the social sector development. Thailand to sign FTA with Pakistan Certain stakeholders have reservations over MFN status to India: foreign secretary ISLAMABAD ONlINE Pakistan’s Foreign Secretary Jalil Abbas Jilani said while the federal cab- inet had already agreed on according Most Favorable Nation (MFN) status to India, certain stakeholders in the busi- ness fraternity had reservations on this count. “Cabinet has already agreed on giving MFN status to India, though certain stakeholders in Pakistan have ex- pressed reservations on this measure. Commerce secretaries of both Pakistan and India will soon meet to allay these concerns,” he said while talking to the media personnel after a PAC meeting on Thursday. He said bilateral trade ties between Pakistan and India were critical in the perspective of usual trade activities which were gathering momentum each passing day. Bilateral trade volume be- tween the two countries has surpassed 2 billion dollars, he pointed out. Hafeez invites General Electric to invest in Pakistan ISLAMABAD APP Federal Minister for Finance Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh on Thursday invited Gen- eral Electric Company (GE) to invest in Pakistan, particularly in sectors the com- pany had global expertise in- such as avi- ation, transport, railways, energy and alternate energy. A delegation led by GE Vice Chairman John Rice called on Shaikh and ex- pressed the company’s keen interest for investment in various sectors in Pak- istan, in particular supplying locomo- tives for Pakistan Railways and setting up of a wind energy projects apart from exploring other investment areas. The minister informed the delegation that Pakistan offered a favourable environment for foreign in- vestment and assured full support and facilitation of the government for invest- ment by GE in Pakistan. Rice expressed his gratitude towards the government and in particular the finance minister for providing attractive oppor- tunities of foreign investment in the country. He thanked Shaikh for his continuous support towards the private sector, at- tracting investment by guiding foreign investors and ensuring a business- friendly environment. AttARI ONlINE The Indian government is considering set- ting up a container depot close to the At- tari-Wagah border in order to facilitate trade between India and Pakistan, which has the potential to rise by 200 percent within a short span of time. “We have written to the Central Board of Excise and Customs, conveying that there is a demand for container trade through the Attari border. We have sug- gested setting up of a dry port somewhere near the integrated check post at Attari,” Amritsar Customs Commissioner KK Sharma said. “Finance Ministry has taken up the matter with Commerce Ministry,” he added. Imports from Pakistan through the Attari border land route in the period from April to December, 2012, in value terms stood at Rs 6,300 million- an 87 per- cent increase over the corresponding pe- riod in 2011. Besides, India’s export to Pakistan through this route stands at Rs 12,370 mil- lion in the April-December 2012 period, an increase of 54 percent over the correspon- ding period last year. Container Warehous- ing Corporation (CWC) could be entrusted with the task of building the storage facility for container trade, Sharma said, adding that if both rail and road routes work to full capacity, trade between the two countries could go up by as much as 200 percent. He said traders preferred the land route for exporting goods to Pakistan. Earlier, trade was allowed through head-load at the border but from October 1, 2007, both the governments have agreed to allow transportation of goods through trucks. At present, the goods coming from Pakistan through trucks are unloaded at the Integrated Check Post (ICP) at Attari, situated at a distance of 32 km from Amrit- sar and 28 km from Lahore. At the same time, Indian trucks can enter Pakistan and unload near the Wagah border. Sharma said customs officials manu- ally clear around 200 truck loads of goods for Pakistan everyday and the department is in the process of securing a scanner by the end of 2013 for speedier clearance of goods. The Pakistan side has already in- stalled a scanner at the border to check the trucks. Sharma said setting up a container freight station somewhere between Wagah and Attari border would ensure speedier clearance of goods and facilitate trade be- tween the two neighbours. “We also have to start rail interchange movement again. If both rail and ICP func- tion at full capacity, trade will go up sub- stantially,” he added. INDIA MULLS SETTING UP DRY PORT AT ATTARI TO PROMOTE TRADE WITH PAKISTAN Pakistan Auto show 2013 begins today KARACHI INP The Pakistan Association of Automotive Parts and Accessories Manufacturers (PAA- PAM) is holding Pakistan Auto Show 2013 at the Expo Centre, Karachi, from Friday (today), which will showcase the achieve- ments of Pakistan’s automotive industry and auto parts manufacturing sectors. “This mega event will be visited by a large number of visitors and buyers from around the world, while over 150 multinational and national companies will display their prod- ucts at the exhibition,” said PAAPAM Chair- man Munir Bana. He said this exhibition would be a thor- oughfare of the true engineering and manu- facturing diversity of Pakistani companies, thus providing an opportunity to forge new alliances and business ventures. He also called upon the government to play a part in organising such mega exhibitions, adding that this show had been financed com- pletely by PAAPAM and the automobile in- dustry of the country. Bana strongly urged the government to en- sure adequate and exclusive export promo- tions for the engineering sector. “We expect that the Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) would support our initia- tives, both locally and abroad, for these ef- forts are geared towards our national interest, with the aim of promoting exports and introducing new technologies,” Bana said. In Pakistan, the local industry assem- bles cars, motorcycles, tractors, and heavy vehicles such as trucks and buses, and also hosts major original equipment manufac- turers (OEMs) such as Toyota, Honda, Suzuki and Massey Ferguson. PAAPAM Vice Chairman Usman Malik further said that Germany, with the col- laboration of its government, holds the world’s largest auto exhibition every year in which only a dozen companies from Pakistan participated, while hundreds of firms from our neighbouring countries displayed their products in the show. Malik further said with steady growth in the automotive parts manufacturing in- dustry in the region, the 2013 exhibition in Karachi will play a crucial role in the eco- nomic development of Pakistan’s automo- bile-related market, both locally and internationally. The show will be a perfect place to approach a potential buyer and meet existing customers, he underlined. KARACHI STAFF REPORT The Pakistanis working abroad remitted over $7.116 billion during the first half of the current fiscal year, from July to De- cember 2012. A central bank report on Thursday showed an increase of 12.51 percent in this regard compared to the correspon- ding period of FY 12. The State Bank pointed out that the remittances received through banks amounted to $6.421 billion (90%), through exchange companies $640 mil- lion (9%) and through Pakistan Post $56 million (1%). The inflow of remittances during the period under review from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries (including Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and Oman), and EU countries amounted to $1.960 billion, $1.460 billion, $1.155 billion, $1.005 bil- lion, $811.18 million and $188.77 million, respectively. In FY 12 these figures stood at $1.661 billion, $1.412 billion, $1.150 billion, $726.35 million, $721.19 million and $189.14 million from the respective destinations. The remittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries dur- ing the first half of the current fiscal year (July- December FY13) amounted to $ 534.68 million as against $463.61 million received in the first half of the last fiscal year. The monthly average remittances for July-December 2012 period comes out to $1.186 billion as compared to $1.054 million during the corresponding period last year. An amount of $1.134 billion was re- mitted by overseas Pakistanis in Decem- ber, 2012 as against $ 1.085 billion in the same month of the last fiscal year (De- cember 2011) depicting a growth of 4.54%. In December (2012), the inflow of remittances from Saudi Arabia, UAE, USA, UK, GCC countries, and EU coun- tries amounted to $351.17 million, $220.28 million, $161.97 million, $159.15 million, $134.49 million and $27.61 million respectively as compared with an inflow of $297.53 million, $ 245.67 million, $175.12 million, $132.05 million, $121.15 million and $28.88 mil- lion respectively in December, 2011. Re- mittances received from Norway, Switzerland, Australia, Canada, Japan and other countries during the sixth months of the current fiscal year (Decem- ber FY13) amounted to $79.99 million as against $84.95 million received in the sixth months of the last fiscal year. The central bank attributes this growing trend to the Pakistan Remit- tance Initiative (PRI). “The continued growth in worker remittances is the re- sult of efforts made by Pakistan Remit- tance Initiative (PRI) in collaboration with other stakeholders to facilitate both overseas Pakistanis and their families back home,” the regulator said. Since its inception, the PRI had taken a number of steps to enhance the flow of remittances through formal channels which include preparation of national strategies on re- mittances, taking all necessary steps to implement the overall strategy, playing an advisory role for financial sector in terms of preparing a business case, rela- tionship building with overseas corre- spondents, creating separate efficient remittance payment highways and be- coming a national focal point for overseas Pakistanis through a round the clock call- centre with toll free lines, separate web site etc, the state bank said. Remittances grow by 12.5pc to $7.1b in first half of FY13 PRO 11-01-2013_Layout 1 1/11/2013 5:19 AM Page 1