In October 2010, the European Union requested a waiver on duties for 75 products coming from Pakistan, most of which include textile products, in order to help the country recover from the devastating floods that took place in the summer of 2010. More than one year later, the WTO approved the duty waiver for two years until December 2013.

A textile factory in Pakistan - Photo: Rizman Tabassum/AFP

The list of products includes t-shirts, coats, underwear and other cotton products. Europe is Pakistan’s largest trading partner, responsible for around 30% of the country’s total export which is worth more than 3 billion euros every year. The value of goods that are affected by the waiver is expected to be around 900 million euros, which is 27% of Pakistan's total exports to European markets.

The proposal took a while to be approved because other countries which compete with Pakistani manufacturers, such as Brazil, Argentina, India, Bangladesh and Indonesia, had raised concerns that Pakistan would benefit too much from this waiver. However, WTO has finally decided to approve the waiver and the latter will be officially confirmed mid-February, although it has already been put into place since January 1st.