Pakistan retains special trade status

ISLAMABAD. The European Commission has retained Pakistan’s Generalised Scheme of Preference-Plus (GSP+) status, allowing Pakistani exporters to continue to benefit from preferential trade access.

Earlier, there were concerns about a temporary suspension of the status following a review of Pakistan’s GSP+ status due to concerns over human rights issues. However, the European Commission decided to retain the status. The European Union (EU) is one of the biggest trading partners of Pakistan, accounting for 14.3 per cent of the country’s total trade in 2020 and 28 per cent of total exports. Pakistan’s exports to the EU went up to $7.5 billion, or 34 per cent of the total exports of the country after getting GSP plus status, according to European Union’s Ambassador to Pakistan, Androulla Kaminara.