Finance Minister, US Commerce Secretary hold virtual meeting on reciprocal tariffs

ISLAMABAD: Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb and US Commerce Secretary Howard Lutnick held a virtual meeting on Tuesday, in which both countries agreed to continue talks on bilateral reciprocal tariffs.

Both sides stressed on finalising trade agreement soon through talks, a statement issued by the Ministry of Finance said on Tuesday. Trade, investment and economic cooperation were also discussed during the meeting.

Both Pakistan and the US decided to hold more detailed discussions at the technical level in the next meeting. Both sides also expressed confidence in successfully completing the talks soon.

The statement by the ministry said that tariffs and other matters were reviewed, in view of all possible situations. Finance Minister informed Secretary Lutnick that Pakistan is looking for expansion with the US in various sectors.

Aurangzeb also informed the US official that Pakistan will introduce reforms for the energy sector, state-owned enterprises (SOEs), as well as expand the tax net. He informed about Pakistan government’s steps to improve the industry to increase exports.

The minister also discussed that the pension expenditure in the federal budget is more than the development budget. “We have increased the pension in line with inflation. Proposed 5 per cent tax on pensions above Rs 10 million has also been introduced,” he said. Provinces are leading in government reforms, Finance Minister told US Commerce Secretary.

After the meeting, Aurangzeb also said that if any province is doing public-private partnership, the federal government should learn. “We should learn the model of public-private partnership from Sindh,” Finance Minister Muhammad Aurangzeb said.

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