Acting Ambassador of European Union (EU), Stefano Gatto during his visit to Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry said that Pakistan’s exports mainly included textile and leather goods to EU has shown improvement but the Pakistan trade and industrial community must make efforts and focus on diversifying their export range to Europe to take fully benefit from EU’s GSP plus scheme.

The EU envoy said that Pakistan needs to focus on strengthening its capacity to effectively compete in the international markets. Pakistan’s exports to EU have been gradually improving after the grant of generalized scheme of preferences (GSP-plus) for 10 years which commenced from January 1, 2014 but after every two years, the 28-nation European block will assess whether Pakistan is fulfilling the conditions required to get duty-free access to European markets or not.

Stefano Gatto, commenting on China Pakistan Economic Corridor (CPEC), said that if it goes well then Pakistan will be able to play the role of a bridge between the Central Asian Republics (CARs) as the corridor can bring economic improvements.

The first assessment by European block on GSP plus status grant to Pakistan has begun and was currently underway which will be officially reported in January 2016.