Trade policy sets export target at $26 billion

Trade policy sets export target at $26 billion

Approving the recommendations of Trade Policy 2011-12, Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani on Saturday directed the commerce ministry to realise the immense potential for regional trade in order to enhance the country’s exports.

The trade policy aims at achieving an ambitious export target of $26 billion for the fiscal year besides seeking better market access by addressing tariff and non-tariff issues.The policy proposals would now be presented to the Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) for final approval.

After a presentation by commerce ministry officials, Mr Gilani said the government would soon hold a conference of ambassadors and trade officers with a view to giving them the task of pursuing ‘trade diplomacy’ for increasing exports.

The presentation was attended, among others, by Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim, Finance Minister Dr Abdul Hafeez Shaikh, Planning Commission deputy chairman Dr Nadeem-ul-Haq and secretaries of finance and commerce divisions.

Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood briefed the meeting on the free trade agreements (FTAs) that had been concluded with Sri Lanka, China and Malaysia and the preferential trade agreements (PTAs) with Mauritius and Iran and Saarc Free Trade Area (SAFTA).

He said negotiations were in progress on the second phase of Pakistan-China trade agreement, Pakistan-Singapore FTA, Pakistan-Indonesia PTA, Pakistan-Turkey PTA, Pakistan-Sri Lanka Comprehensive Economic Partnership, Pakistan-GCC FTA, PakistanMauritius FTA, D-8, OIC PTA and ECO Trade Agreement (ECOTA).

“Other initiatives for greater market access in Asia Pacific are also continuing,” the commerce secretary said. He was hopeful about the success of the current trade policy despite the global economic situation, market access problems, energy deficiency in the country, the poor law and order situation and the scourge of terrorism.

As the tiger awakens: Mohsin Hafeez on Chinese Power over and Stakes in the US Economy

TOO much of a good thing is bad. So is the case with the kind of democracy espoused by the political structure in America these days. The recent debt ceiling debate in the power corridors of Capitol Hill smacked of the worst kind of politics one has witnessed in the history of the developed world.

The Tea Party thought it fit to bring the country to the brink of the most disastrous scenario that was averted at the eleventh hour. The looming threat of the largest economy failing to keep its obligations was just as unfathomable to us here as it was spooky to the rest of the world. Notwithstanding the deal, and more because of the process that preceded the ‘signed, sealed and delivered’ moment, the debt rating of the US was lowered a notch to AA+ from its premium AAA rating.

In the last over 50 years, the debt limit has been raised at an average frequency of one and a half times every year, without as much as an eyelid being batted. Why it had to unravel the worst form of political showdown in the process this time is beyond comprehension and it does not hold up the high values of the greatest nation on earth, of American exceptionalism.

The US has borrowed with reckless abandon over the last several years.

The bubble finally burst in 2007, bringing with it the Great Recession. Even the brightest minds in the country missed the depth of the issue. Those who got it were snubbed, being labelled as ‘Keynesian’ as if it were a dirty word not fit for public utterance. The stimulus during the first few months of the Obama administration was cut down to size, with the result that it became only a half-baked effort. The Federal Reserve kept lowering the interest rates, and then deployed the silver bullet in the way of buying in billions, a combination of mortgage-backed and other US treasuries, to keep the interest rates from rising.

China is the largest creditor of the US, with about $1.3tr in US treasuries and agency securities. The Chinese found the US to be a safe haven, and holding US treasuries in large amounts also helped them mai ntain a tight relationship between the yuan and the US dollar. With the economic structure of China moving towards consumption, partially to cater to the rising middle class, at the expense of savings,

China far west attacks expose violence’s homegrown roots

China said ringleaders of the separatist “East Turkestan Islamic Movement” (ETIM) who trained in Pakistan orchestrated the assault on Sunday that killed six in Kashgar city, Xinjiang region, where many Muslim Uighurs resent the presence of Han Chinese people.

Reuters

BEIJING: The biggest threat to China’s grip on its ethnically divided far western frontier comes from homegrown anger exploding in violence, not from Pakistan-based terrorists officials have blamed for the latest bloodshed.

China said ringleaders of the separatist “East Turkestan Islamic Movement” (ETIM) who trained in Pakistan orchestrated the assault on Sunday that killed six in Kashgar city, Xinjiang region, where many Muslim Uighurs resent the presence of Han Chinese people.

The Uighur (pronounced “Wee-gur”) are a Turkic-speaking people who form a minority in Xinjiang, and are culturally closer to ethnic groups across central Asia and Turkey than the Han Chinese who make the vast majority of China’s population.

Still, many observers doubt the attack was a blow from abroad by ETIM, which they said was struggling, in disarray, and even outright defunct.

Instead, the causes of – and possibly the cure for – ethnic conflict lie mainly within China, they said.

“All conversations I have had with people from China and Pakistan suggests a high degree of skepticism about the real viability of ETIM,” said Andrew Small, a researcher at the German Marshall Fund think tank in Brussels who studies China’s ties with

IMP: US, Pakistan heading towards confrontation over N-arms issues

WASHINGTON: The United States and Pakistan are heading towards yet another confrontation, perhaps consequentially more devastating than all previous disputes, as the Obama administration prepares to persuade Islamabad to halt the production of nuclear bomb materials.
Recent reports in the US media suggest that the UN General Assembly in New York next month will be the venue for this new push and the US has the blessings of four declared nuclear powers for its move.
Also on Wednesday, the NBC News channel reported that the US was preparing for “the worst-case scenario of attempting to snatch Pakistan`s 100-plus nuclear weapons if it feared they were about to fall into the wrong hands”.
The channel quoted former president Pervez Musharraf as warning that this “would be a disastrous miscalculation, as such an incursion would lead to `total confrontation` between the United States and Pakistan”.
Current and former US officials, however, told NBC News that “ensuring the security of Pakistan`s nuclear weapons has long been a high national security priority, even before the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, and that plans have been drawn up for dealing with worst-case scenarios in Pakistan”.
But the expected confrontation in New York has nothing to do with any secret plan to snatch Pakistan`s nukes. The United States will launch an open move with support from other powers to force Pakistan to sign the Fissile Material Cutoff
Treaty.
The US media reported that the Obama administration had won China`s support for finalising the FMCT. At a recent conference in Paris, Russia, France and Britain all declared nuclear powers like China – also supported the US plan.
It is, however, not clear if China would back the move to cap Pakistan`s nuclear capability and thus allow India to become the sole nuclear power in South Asia.
The US and its allies are seeking an agreement by September and then go to the UN General Assembly with a joint plan for starting talks on the

Pakistan And The FMCT By Ikram Sehgal

On December 16, 1993, the United Nations (UN) General Assembly adopted a resolution calling for the “negotiations of ‘a non-discriminatory, multilateral and internationally and effectively verifiable treaty banning the production of fissile material for nuclear weapons or other nuclear explosive devices”. Since then, negotiations for the fissile material cut-off treaty (FMCT) continue to be stalled on various issues.
The US contributed to the stalemate by refusing to accept international mechanisms for verification and insisting that National Technical Means (NTMs) were adequate to ensure compliance. The Obama Administration broke the impasse last year by its pledge to support international verification.
Fundamental differences between the 65 members of the Conference on Disarmament (CD) on the purpose and scope of the FMCT have failed to evolve its final draft. Every member has the right of veto, countries have the right to halt negotiations; if the national interests of any member country is targeted the next stage is not possible. Many members question whether it would be a measure of nuclear non-proliferation or would it address the