On April 9, the 11th meeting of the 2nd phase of negotiation of China-Pakistan FTA was held in Beijing. Vice Minister of Commerce and deputy China international trade representative Wang Shouwen met with the delegations led by Pakistan’s Secretary of Ministry of Commerce Sukhera and Secretary of Ministry of Finance Dagha respectively. The two sides conducted in-depth consultations on issues such as tariff reduction of goods trade, investment, and customs cooperation, and made positive progress.

Pakistan is an important country along the Belt and Road routes and an important economic and trade partner of China in South Asia. The China-Pakistan FTA was signed in 2006 and came into effect in 2007 with good results. The bilateral trade volume between China and Pakistan increased from US$5.25 billion in 2006 to US$19.08 billion in 2018. In order to further enhance the level of mutual opening up, China and Pakistan initiated the second phase of the FTA negotiations in 2011.