EU expresses satisfaction over Pakistan's progress in achieving GSP+ goals

ISLAMABAD: European Parliament's International Trade Committee (INTA) has expressed satisfaction on the progress achieved by Pakistan in enacting new laws and developing new institutions for implementation of 27 core conventions of GSP+ especially the National Action Plan for Human Rights.

A meeting of INTA was held in Brussels to discuss the second Biennial Assessment Report of GSP+ where the parliament hoped that Pakistan would continue to engage with the EU and ensure to bridge implementation gaps during the next two years of reporting on GSP+, said a statement issued here by foreign office.

The European Commission and the European External Action Service had prepared a joint staff document evaluating steps taken by the beneficiary countries to comply with UN conventions pertaining to human rights, labour rights, narcotics control and corruption.

The section pertaining to Pakistan appreciated legislative and institutional measures undertaken to improve the human rights regime in the country.

It specifically appreciated the establishment of National Human Rights Commission and the National Action Plan for Human Rights among other measures taken by Pakistan. 

During the session, it was announced that GSP+ monitoring missions shall undertake visits to Pakistan, Philippines, Kyrgyzstan and Bolivia in the second half of 2018 to interact with stakeholders engaged in the implementation of mandatory conventions for GSP+.

Pakistan is one of the 10 beneficiaries of EU’s GSP+ scheme.

As a result of duty-free access available to Pakistan in 28 member states, exports to the EU have increased from 4.54 billion Euros in 2013 to 6.29 billion Euros in 2016 which implies an increase of 38 percent.

Duty-free access has been crucial for Pakistani products to maintain their competitiveness in the EU market vis-à-vis similar products originating from India, Turkey, Vietnam and China.

The INTA also agreed to deliberate upon the possibility of up-scaling the relationship with Pakistan from a beneficiary of GSP+ scheme to an FTA partner in future.

The process of monitoring of compliance of GSP+ for next biennial assessment report for 2018-2019 would start in March 2018 by the European Commission.

During the discussions that took place in the meeting of INTA, the Committee noted the positive economic impact of the GSP+ scheme on the beneficiary countries and it has been useful in encouraging countries to undertake necessary steps for promoting principles of good governance and sustainable development.