Dr. Sajjad Karim

The ban – imposed five years ago – was formally removed by the EU after the Pakistani government pursued a tactic of strong “trade diplomacy”. Its withdrawal has been billed as a huge economic & diplomatic success of the regime’s trade experts.

In March this year, Pakistan filed a case of unfair trade practices to the World Trade Organisation judicial adjudicating forum, the Dispute Settlement Body, where the EU formally announced last week their decision to remove the duty.

Dr Karim – who chairs the European Parliament Friends of Pakistan Group – hailed the development, stating:

“This is a welcome development. The EU-Pakistan relationship has many angles above and beyond the trade relationship. That is why it is vital to ensure relations are sustained over a period of time and not just at flash point moments such as this.”

PET, also known as resin, is a bottle grade polyester chip, used in production of disposable PET bottles for mineral water and soft drinks. The market is huge in Pakistan and after the ban was imposed in 2010 it caused an economic loss of approximately 300 million euros to Pakistan’s nascent chemical industry.