Pakistan is ramping up efforts to deepen its trade and economic ties with key partner countries, with the European Union emerging as a central focus, as officials work to improve market access, boost export performance, and tighten coordination among the agencies involved.
The push was the focus of a meeting chaired Thursday by Deputy Prime Minister and Foreign Minister Senator Mohammad Ishaq Dar, where officials reviewed steps to accelerate the country’s trade and economic partnerships. Dar underscored the importance of following through on commitments made under the GSP+ framework, stressing that coordinated action and timely implementation would be essential to getting the full benefit from the preferential market access it provides. He instructed relevant authorities to prioritize measures aimed at strengthening Pakistan’s trade and export performance, and to sharpen coordination in order to unlock further economic opportunities for the country, according to media reports.
The meeting brought together the Minister for Commerce, Special Assistant to the Prime Minister Tariq Bajwa, Foreign Secretary Amna Baloch, the federal secretaries of Commerce and Interior, Pakistan’s Ambassador to Brussels, the Chairman of the Capital Development Authority, and senior federal and provincial officials from relevant ministries and departments.
The stakes are tied to a firm deadline: the EU’s updated GSP framework takes effect January 1, 2027, making Pakistan’s diligent follow-through on its GSP+ obligations especially critical if it hopes to retain preferential access to the European market. The revised scheme also introduces an automatic safeguard mechanism for rice imports, designed to protect EU producers from any potential disruption caused by a surge in imports.
