Tariff talks between Pakistan and Indonesia deadlocked

Pakistan and Indonesia have hit a deadlock in talks on a preferential trade agreement (PTA), which includes a duty cut on palm oil from Indonesia, officials from both countries said on Friday. An Indonesian trade ministry official said Indonesia has walked away from negotiations due to a lack of progress. The two countries have been discussing the proposed PTA for several years but have failed to bridge differences over the granting of tariff concessions to each other on various goods. Indonesia, the world's top palm oil producer along with Malaysia, has been pushing Pakistan to lower its import duty on palm oil to the same level for products from Malaysia. Under a tariff agreement signed in 2007, Pakistan charges 15 per cent less duty than standard rates on palm oil imports from Malaysia. Malaysia and Indonesia account for 80 per cent of the global supply of palm oil. A senior Pakistani commerce ministry official said Indonesian officials in recent talks insisted on import duty cuts of up to 15 per cent on paper products "We tried to convince them that it's not possible as our paper industry is very small," he said From / Gulf News