ISLAMABAD: Pakistan’s commerce chief said the country would have to send a fresh application to the European Union for the renewal of the Generalized System of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status as the EU Ambassador to Islamabad said the South Asian nation would have to “redouble” its efforts to meet international rights conventions in order to continue to get trade concessions beyond 2023.
This April, the European Parliament moved a resolution against Pakistan, seeking an immediate review of its eligibility for GSP+ status over what it called violence and discrimination against religious minorities and other vulnerable groups.
The development took place after the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan (TLP) religious party resorted to violent protests, demanding the expulsion of the French ambassador to Islamabad over anti-Islam cartoons published in France.
The GSP+ is a special trade arrangement offered to developing economies by European nations in return for their commitment to implement 27 international conventions on human rights, environmental protection and governance. Institutionalized in 1971, the framework removes or reduces import duties on products exported to Europe from low-income countries.
Pakistan is part of a current GSP+ scheme set to end in December 2023.
Speaking to Arab News, the prime minister’s adviser on trade and commerce Abdul Razak Dawood said Pakistan would have to file a fresh application for the new scheme like other beneficiary countries of the GSP scheme.
“Pakistani products … have duty free access in all 27 member states of the European Union since January 1, 2014, until December 31, 2023,” Dawood said, adding that the EU periodically reviewed the commitment of all beneficiary nations with GSP+ status to the signed international conventions.
Dawood said all nations, including Pakistan, would be required to ratify and implement five new international conventions, in addition to the previous 27 international covenants, to benefit from a new program to be adopted by the EU from 2024 to 2036.
The EU office in Islamabad said in a statement Pakistan was the largest beneficiary of the current GSP+ program but the European Commission was continuously monitoring progress made by beneficiary nations like Pakistan in implementing international conventions.
“In the last monitoring reports, some progress has been positively highlighted, while concerns have been raised regarding child labor, torture, media freedom and access to justice, among others,” the statement maintained.
European Union Ambassador to Pakistan Androulla Kaminara said in a statement last month that Pakistan’s exports to Europe had increased by 60 percent since it was granted GSP+ status in 2014 but “in order to maintain the trade preferences under GSP Plus beyond 2023, Pakistan will have to redouble its efforts to turn the international conventions it signed into reality on the ground.”
“To make the case to be eligible under the new GSP Plus system, Pakistan, like any other potential beneficiary countries,” Kaminara said, “will have to demonstrate tangible progress to convince EU parliamentarians and member state governments.”