EU remains barricaded to Pakistani goods ‘till 2014

[Neo]

EU remains barricaded to Pakistani goods ‘till 2014

June 5, 2010

Europe refuses to lower the portcullis for other countries wishing to sell their products and services. Brussels’ palisades surrounded by barbed-wire are impermeable. The current Christian Club called the European Union has kept Turkey out of Europe for the past half century. The successor to the Holy Roman Empire keeps out goods and services from Non-EU countries. Ankara has begun to look East and is developing ties with her former provinces in Palestine, and Central Asia.

* The European Union and Pakistan on Friday set out a five-year plan for boosting ties, while failing to come up with any major breakthroughs on liberalising bilateral trade at their second summit.
* Pakistan would not for the time being benefit from the sought after "GSP+" preferential tariffs.
* Pakistan could have improved access to European markets within one to two years, European Commission President Jose Manuel Barroso said Friday following an EU-Pakistan summit in Brussels.
* Pakistan is seeking to be included in the EU’s system of preferential tariffs but that requires approval by all member states of the World Trade Organization as well as the European Union’s 27 members and the European Parliament.
* However, progress can still be made in the short-term, Barroso said.
* "I believe that we can in a relatively short period, one to two years, I cannot be precise, advance in terms of market access for Pakistan into the European Union," he told reporters at a press conference. Read more: Pakistan Could Have Improved EU Market Access 1-2 Years-Barroso

The EU has built non-scalable cheval-de-frise and kept stiff tariffs on Pakistani textiles prohibiting Islamabad from exporting its products to the European Union. The battlement barricades stop the natural flow of goods, services and finances keeping Europe rich and South Asia poor. The diaphragm prevent affluence in Pakistan. Pakistani businesspersons cannot go up the escarp.

It is ironic that the Pakistani cotton fields were developed after the British Empire lost her colonies in America. After the US revolution of 1776, the British who ruled Pakistan at the time set about to grow hemp, tobacco and cotton in Pakistan—so that the cotton could support the Textile Mills of Manchester, Bradford and Leeds.

During the sixties when Manchester was booming, the British Textile mills brought in thousands of Pakistani mill workers to Manchester. Their progeny today makes up a sizable portion of immigrants to the UK.

The Pakistani textile mills competed with the British factories and eventually drove them out of business. Today the same Textile mills want to export to the markets in the UK and other countries. However they are prevented to export their product. The EU uses high tariff rates to make the textiles uncompetitive.

* Pakistan wants the implementation of the GSP+ by 2012 but EU sources said this will not be possible before 2014.
* The sources speaking to journalists here Thursday said the summit comes after changes in the EU following the adoption of the Lisbon Treaty and constitutional changes in Pakistan.
* In Friday’s meeting the EU will propose a five-year engagement plan with Pakistan to promote dialogue on issues such as counter-terrorism, non-proliferation and trade.
* The summit will provide an opportunity to strengthen the strategic dialogue between the EU and Pakistan and to discuss a number of issues, in particular regional issues, economic and trade questions , energy, as well as security and the promotion of human rights and democracy.
* "Pakistan is becoming a solid partner for the EU," stressed the sources speaking on condition of anonymity.

BRUSSELS — The European Union and Pakistan on Friday set out a five-year plan for boosting ties, while failing to come up with any major breakthroughs on liberalising bilateral trade at their second summit.

The new plan, agreed by EU president Herman Van Rompuy and Pakistani Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani still lacks detail but is aimed at boosting cooperation in the areas of regional security, trade, development and the fight against terrorism.

On trade the two sides agree to seek to further liberalise the movement of goods though it was clear that Pakistan would not for the time being benefit from the sought after "GSP+" preferential tariffs.

Currently trade between the two amounts to some seven billion euros, with most of the goods already eligible for the preferential tariffs.

The EU is already Pakistan’s largest trading partner and a major aid donor but Lahore argues that Europe should further open its markets, particularly to its key textile sector.

There was good news for Pakistan on the aid front, with EU Commission chief Jose Manuel Barroso announcing that Europe agreeing to increase its annual funding from 50 million euros to 75 million in 2011

The British colonialists set up cancerous cults in East Punjab which would facilitate British interests in the region. When they were leaving South Asia, these cults were transferred to Pakistani Punjab. The objective of creating cults was to create a creed of Westernized Oriental Gentlemen (WOGs) who would look Brown on the outside, and be White on the inside. These WOGs have continued to serve their foreign masters—undermining Pakistan and its civic society. In the seventies some of these WOGs got so powerful that they threatened to take over the country. There was a huge backlash and the cults were marginalized. The backlash was akin to the movement against WACO or the Black Panthers, or the Native American militants.

* Also in Brussels, at NATO headquarters, NATO Secretary-General Anders Fogh Rasmussen assured the Pakistani leader there would be no precipitate withdrawal from Afghanistan.
* "I have stressed to the prime minister, and through him to the Pakistani people, NATO will stay in Afghanistan as long as it takes to finish our job, there should be no misunderstanding about that," Rasmussen said.
"We count on Pakistan as a partner and we will be a partner to Pakistan as well."
* Rasmussen held out the prospect of a broader NATO-Pakistan cooperation going beyond existing military-to-military contacts. He invited Pakistan to submit requests for specific NATO support.

At a joint press conference, however, Van Rompuy took aim at Pakistan’s human rights record, voicing concerns "regarding women’s rights and discrimination against religious minorities."

The Pakistani leader insisted that "we are a democratic country which is totally supporting looking after human rights and also looking after the minorities."

He cited the creation of a government minister for the minorities.

The two sides also discussed their cooperation in the fight against terrorism.

EU nations are involved in the operations in neighbouring Afghanistan against the Taliban and Al-Qaeda, problems which spill across into Pakistan.

Pakistan is "a front-line state" said Gilani. "We have suffered a lot" in terms of casualties and the economy, he added.

He cited a list of areas where cooperation with the EU was being reinforced; counter-terrorism, law enforcement, judicial cooperation and counter-radicalisation measures.

"I believe this sends an important signal that we are ready to jointly tackle the threat of terrorism," said Van Rompuy.

If the EU and the US lowered their tariffs rates, Pakistani exports would triple freeing up money to invest in the infrastructure in the Tribal areas—which would reduce poverty and eliminate the allure of non-productive activities.

The US and the EU are great harbingers of the World Trade Organization (WTO) forcing other countries to lower tariffs on US and European goods. However the US and the EU spend between $300 billion and $500 billion in subsidies to their farmers which keep raw materials outside the North America and Europe.

Pakistan faces more tariffs on Textile exports to the US than Sweden which exports thousands of Volvos and other products to America. If the tariffs on Pakistani exports are lifted, Islamabad would not need any US aid.

So, on the one hand, US and European policies keep Pakistani farmers and textile manufacturers poor by disallowing them access to their markets, on the other hand they send in aid which destroys the fabric of the nation and intrudes into the inner most sanctuaries of the country.

* EU officials say the 27-nation bloc intends to launch a five-year engagement plan that would include a strategic dialogue between the two sides and a boost in trade, which last year amounted to euro7 billion. Pakistan currently enjoys preferential treatment for 80 per cent of its exports to the EU, and plans call for all customs duties to be abolished soon.
* The EU also is increasing reconstruction assistance for Pakistan’s war-ravaged regions.

EU remains barricaded to Pakistani goods ‘till 2014