Resumption of negotiations on Services
After the resumption of Doha Round negotiations, the first cluster of Services bilateral meetings was held from 27 January to 1 February. Pakistan actively participated in these negotiations. Its high level delegation included Mr. Mushtaq Malik, Additional Secretary, Ministry of Finance and Syed Samar Hasnain, Director, Exchange Policy Department, State Bank of Pakistan. Bilateral meetings generally focused on financial services sector, which were held with the European Communities, Norway, Australia, United States, Switzerland and Malaysia.
The basic purpose of these meetings was to explore what our trade partners could agree to for further liberalization in financial services area if Pakistan were to agree to some of their demands such as removal of MFN exemptions and agree to other demands being made from Pakistan. The meetings with our partners also enabled Pakistan to explain the salient features of the financial reforms carried out in Pakistan over the last few years.
The Ministry of Commerce is actively working on a revised offer which Pakistan may have to submit within the coming months. So far experts from Financial, Information Technology, and Energy and Communication services have taken part in various cluster meetings at the WTO.
