ANI
02 Jul 2022, 00:18 GMT+10
Islamabad [Pakistan], July 1 (ANI): Pakistan has refused to ratify the European Union (EU) conditions including the abolition of the death penalty for the extension of a new Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP) status for 2024, according to local media.
The GSP is a trade and development policy instrument in place since 1971 which is set to expire on December 31, 2023. Pakistan, a major recipient of the GSP scheme, benefitted from zero duty on several products.
The 27-member-bloc sees the coming months as crucial for extending the GSP status for 2024.
The Express Tribune citing sources reported that the EU Parliament had proposed additional conventions for the new GSP scheme (2024-34). These conventions include the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC) - Individual complaints against State party in ICC - and First Optional Protocol to the International Convention Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR) - Individual complaints against State party in ICCPR-UNHRC.
There is also a second optional protocol to the ICCPR which bounds a country to abolish the death penalty. The Pakistani publication further reported citing sources said that Pakistan had not ratified any of the conditions.
Prime Minister Shahbaz Sharif will engage with the presidents of the council and the commission to seek a waiver to the conventions. The Pakistani side will take up the matter with an EU delegation that is visiting the country and with the EU Parliament.
Meanwhile, taking stock of the progress made on the nine priority areas for the fourth biennial review of GSP Plus, PM Shehbaz asked the chief secretaries of the four provinces to brief the cabinet via video link, The Express Tribune reported.
On June 22, a mission of the EU's Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP) arrived in Islamabad on Wednesday to assess the effective implementation of 27 international conventions.
"The GSP (Generalised Scheme of Preferences Plus) provides wide-ranging tariff preferences for imports to the EU from vulnerable developing countries to support poverty eradication, sustainable development and their participation in the global economy as well as reinforce good governance," the EU mission said in a statement.
Eligible countries like Pakistan can export goods to the EU market at zero duties for 66 per cent of tariff lines. This preferential status is conditional on GSP countries demonstrating tangible progress on the implementation of 27 international conventions on human and labour rights, environmental protection, climate change and good governance. (ANI)
Get a daily dose of Dublin News news through our daily email, its complimentary and keeps you fully up to date with world and business news as well.
Publish news of your business, community or sports group, personnel appointments, major event and more by submitting a news release to Dublin News.
More InformationNEW YORK, New York - Stocks were decidedly mixed in the U.S. on Tuesday as investors struggled to make a ...
DELHI, India: Dubbed the country's Warren Buffett, India's best-known stock investor and self-made billionaire, Rakesh Jhunjhunwala, died on August 14 ...
SAO PAULO, Brazil: Brazil's central bank chief Roberto Campos Neto has said that he believes credit cards will cease to ...
SYDNEY, NSW, Australia - Stocks in China were flat to lower on Tuesday as investors weighed up the disappointing economic ...
LONDON, England: Reports from the UK's opposition Labour Party said its leader, KeirStarmer, will call for a freeze on energy ...
MIAMI, Florida: Carnival cruise lines, including Carnival Cruise, Princess Cruises and Cunard, have made plans to drop mandatory COVID-19 testing ...
As China unleashed live-fire military exercises off the coast of Taiwan, simulating a real "reunification by force" operation in the ...
DUBLIN, Ireland: In a sign that Ireland's airports are returning to normal, Dublin Airport authorities have returned to advising that ...
VALENCIA, Spain: Officials from Spanish emergency services reported that after high winds caused part of the main stage to collapse ...
DUBLIN, Ireland: Amazon has received permission to build two new data centers in north Dublin. The Dublin City Council approved ...
TALLINN, Estonia: The leaders of Estonia and Finland have said that Russian citizens should not be able to go on ...
WARSAW, Poland: Toughening its rhetoric in its rule-of-law row with the European Union, Poland's national-conservative government threatened to turn "all ...