Pakistan and Belarus have agreed a range of measures to expand bilateral trade and investment at the conclusion of a two-day Joint Ministerial Commission meeting (Dawn).
The two sides agreed to hold online business-to-business sessions covering seafood, fruit, vegetables, seeds and dairy, and to increase participation in agricultural exhibitions and business delegations. They discussed cooperation in science and technology, including potential mutual recognition agreements for standards and testing, and established a Joint Working Group on Trade to identify new opportunities.
Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan and Belarusian Energy Minister Dzenis Maroz led the talks. Khan said the two countries needed to “explore new avenues of growth, diversify markets and identify opportunities that could deliver measurable and tangible benefits”.
The mutual recognition of standards and testing is the most practically useful item on the list. Non-tariff barriers — certification, phytosanitary requirements, laboratory accreditation — are what most often keep Pakistani agricultural and food exports out of new markets, and they are slower and less visible to fix than tariffs.
The commercial base is small. Belarus is a modest trading partner for Pakistan, and the sectors identified are ones where Pakistan has capacity but limited market access rather than ones where large volumes already move.
The meeting comes in the same week the National Assembly’s commerce committee demanded an assessment of the trade deficit with China and other free trade partners, and as the overall deficit widened by more than 25 per cent in July — the context in which market diversification has become a standing item of Pakistani commercial diplomacy.
