EU Welcomes India''s Decision To Allow WTO Waiver For Pakistan.

Islamabad, Sep 29 (PTI) The European Union today welcomed India''s decision to withdraw its objections to the World Trade Organisation waiver sought by the EU for granting duty-free access to certain goods from Pakistan.

The EU described New Delhi''s decision, announced yesterday following bilateral trade talks between India and Pakistan, as "very positive".

The head of the European Union delegation to Pakistan, Ambassador Lars-Gunnar Wigemark, said the decision was "relevant in light of the renewed floods in the province of Sindh".
The WTO waiver granting unilateral trade concessions to Pakistan was originally sought by the EU to provide relief after devastating floods in India''s neighbouring country last year.

The 75 products on which duties are proposed to be waived accounted for about 27 per cent of Pakistan''s exports to the EU last year, with their value amounting to almost 900 million euros out of the EU''s total imports of goods worth 3.3 billion euros from Pakistan.

Liberalising these 75 tariff lines -- of which one product (ethanol) would be granted a waiver subject to an annual quota of 80,000 tonnes, based on past imports -- would result in an increase in the EU''s imports from Pakistan by an estimated 100 million euros a year, in comparison to 2009.

The EU will receive nearly 80 million euros less in tariff revenues as a result of these trade concessions, a statement said.

Source : news.in.msn.com