According to Riina Kionka, the EU’s ambassador to Pakistan, the EU has proposed extending Pakistan’s Generalized Scheme of Preferences Plus (GSP+) status for an additional four years.
The EU representative said in a video message posted to Twitter that the extension would keep Pakistan’s current trade advantages.
EU Wants Pakistan To Maintain Its GSP+ Status
However, in order to maintain its GSP+ designation, Pakistan would need to abide by the 27 international human rights, labor rights, environmental, and governance norms listed by the EU.
Kionka said that the EU would keep an eye on Pakistan’s advancements and setbacks in fulfilling these duties and would regularly submit its findings to the European Parliament and member states.
She emphasized that the proposed extension covers all eight GSP+ nations in addition to Pakistan. The main goal is to prevent an abrupt halt to trade benefits at the end of the current year.
Exporters from Pakistan, industrial workers, their families, and European businesses that depend on Pakistani suppliers would all suffer from such a sudden stop.
Affirming that the report on the GSP+ monitoring mission would soon be released, Kionka made it clear that she did not want to speculate about its results in the meantime.
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