ISLAMABAD: Pakistan and United States on Tuesday agreed to reinvigorate and revitalise trade and business cooperation, but Washington did not show any interest to revive talks on the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT).

Actually, the Trump administration had opted for protection policies to give support to US companies and the Biden government is still following the same policies on trade and investment with Pakistan.

However, both sides reached an understanding on a number of issues during the two-day inter-sessional meeting under the Pakistan-United States Tra­de and Investment Framework Agreement.

Assistant US Trade Representative (AUSTR) for South and Central Asia Christopher Wilson led US delegation while Pakis­tan’s team was headed by Commerce Secretary Sualeh Faruqui.

A joint press release issued at the conclusion of the meeting said Pakistan and the US discussed a wide array of issues aiming to foster bilateral trade and investment, cooperation in agriculture, textile, and healthcare sectors, promoting digital trade and e-commerce, protecting intellectual property, promoting labour rights, and economic empowerment of women.

It was agreed to further strengthen bilateral economic cooperation and to take steps to enhance trade and economic cooperation. Pakistan and the US would work to support more business-to-business contacts and interaction between the governmental organisations.

Mr Faruqui appreciated the visit of AUSTR which is coinciding with the 75th anniversary of the establishment of diplomatic ties between Pakistan and the US, and it is a testament to our mutual relationship.

Mr Wilson acknowledged the long-standing and robust relationship between the two countries and this visit will underpin and strengthen the trade ties between the two countries.

An official source told Dawn that during the meeting on investment climate issues in Pakistan, especially policies related to taxation, transparency, good governance, intellectual property rights.

On the request of the Pakistani side to register some Pakistani medicines with the US Federal Drug Administration, the US delegation assured to connect Pakistani drug authority with the relevant persons.

The registration will help the manufacturer to export the drugs to western markets.

The US delegation was briefed on the investment priority areas including renewable energy. How­ever, the US delegation did not take an interest to revive talks on the Bilate­ral Investment Treaty.

The Pakistan side up­­d­a­ted the US delegation about the government’s priorities in terms of updating its legal framework for intellectual properties as well as efforts the government is undertaking on enforcement of intellectual property rights.

Published in Dawn, March 9th, 2022