LAHORE, Jan 15: Federal Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan expressed the hope on Monday that the upcoming mini-ministerial meeting of the World Trade Organization (WTO) being held in Davos on the sidelines of World Economic Forum (WEF) would lead to some headway in the Doha Development Round.

“No doubt, the WTO negotiations process remained slow for some months. However, it is going to get momentum at the upcoming mini-ministerial,” he said while talking to newsmen at the oath-taking ceremony of the Lahore Economic Journalists Association (LEJA) here on Monday.

He said the WTO negotiations rounds usually takes long time to conclude, quoting the example of eight-year long Uruguay Round that finally culminated into the formation of WTO in the year 1995.

About Safta, Humayun Akhtar said that Pakistan was fully implementing the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) by carrying out trade with India in line with positive list comprising 1,087 items.

He said that the signing of Safta had nothing to do with the grant of Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India.

“Grant of MFN is related to the WTO. It has nothing to do with Safta,” he said.

He hoped that any headway in political issues with India would definitely help improve Indo-Pak trade relations.

“Composite dialogue with India is in progress. It also addresses the issue of trade,” he said.

Humayun Akhtar Khan said the government was trying to bring down the cost of doing business of the industrial sector besides providing incentives to exporters.

He expressed the hope that the trade diplomacy presently pursued by the government and transformation of the Export Promotion Bureau (EPB) into a Trade Development Authority would go a long way in the maximisation of trade.

He said diversification of the exports in terms of commodities and destinations had resulted in decreasing the share of textiles to 60 per cent from the previous level of 68 per cent. He hoped that the country would achieve the exports target of US $18 billion during the current fiscal year.

Responding to a question, the minister said work on construction of Expo Centre Lahore was in a full swing. He said construction of a number of world class hotels in Lahore was needed to ensure availability of at least 1,000 more rooms for holding of an international trade event, like Expo Pakistan.—APP