On April 28, president Xi Jinping met Pakistan’s Premier Imran Khan in Beijing, and the Premier of the State Council, and so did Li Keqiang. Under the witness of the two countries’ premiers, vice minister of the Ministry of Commerce and alternate representative for international trade negotiation Yu Jianhua and Pakistan’s ambassador to China Khaled Masud signed the Protocol of Revising ‘Free Trade Agreement’ by the PRC Government and Pakistan Government together.

The Protocol, as the second phase negotiation result document of China-Pakistan free trade agreement, is a key measure for carrying out the two countries’ key consensus, for further enriching China-Pakistan all-weather strategy cooperation partner relations, a sample for developing countries’ free trade zone construction, also a vivid practice for promoting the construction of the Belt and Road Initiative and building the community with a shared future for mankind.

The Protocol has upgraded and revised the original free trade agreement’s goods trade market admittance and tariff cutting table, the rule for origin place, and the trade remedy and investment. It also adds a chapter of customs cooperation. The core content is to further raise the two countries’ goods trade liberalization level on the basis of the original free trade agreement. After the Protocol’s coming into effect, tax items’ ratio of mutually carrying out zero tariff goods will be increased to 75% from 35%. Besides, both parties will carry out 20% partial tax decrease to other goods which occupy 5% of their respective tax items.

China-Pakistan free trade agreement was signed in November 2006, and has come into effect since July 2007. In March 2011, China and Pakistan started the second phase negotiation of the free trade agreement, and recently have reached an agreement regard all discussion topics and ended the negotiation.