| Pakistan, China sign agreement on EHP |
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| Wednesday,December 21,2005 Posted: 23:39 BJT(39 GMT) China Daily |
Beijing: China and Pakistan last Friday signed an agreement to enforce Early Harvest Programme (EHP) to reduce tariff on a number of industrial and agricultural products from January 1, 2006.
The agreement was signed by Chinese Commerce Minister Bo Xilai and his counterpart Humayun Akhtar Khan at a ceremony held at Beijing.
Under the EHP, the two countries will receive tariff reduction all together on about 3,000 items, in three phases till January 2008. In the first phase, the Chinese side will bring the excise duty to zero rate on 769 mutually-agreed products that include vegetables, fruits, marble material and cotton fabric. The Pakistani side will reduce the tariff to zero on 486 items, which include textile machinery and chemicals.
The EHP consists of two lists of items (Common List and Separate List) for bringing customs duty to zero on certain items, even prior to conclusion of the FTA. It will also cover the items on which the two countries are already giving tariff concession under the Pakistan-China Preferential Tariff Agreement (PTA).
On an average, there will be 27 percent concession on duties from the Chinese side in the first phase, whereas it will be 22 percent duties’ reduction from the Pakistani side.
The Chinese minister said Pakistan is the first country, with which China will have free trade arrangement under the EHP, a part of FTA. He said the leaderships of the two countries attach great importance to their bilateral ties and the EHP is the manifestation of their continuous efforts, developing comprehensive partnership in all areas of mutual interest.
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