Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan has left for Argentina and Brazil to sign the Framework Agreement on Trade (FTA) between Pakistan and MERCOSUR and to participate in the MERCOSUR summit scheduled to be held on July 21 2006 at Buenos Aires, officials said. On the initiative of the President of Pakistan Pervez Musharraf during his visit to Latin America, negotiations were initiated for FTA with MERCOSUR. India has already signed a Preferential Trade Agreement with MERCOSUR in 2004. MERCOSUR represents a combined market of 210 million people, with a GDP of over a trillion dollars. The MERCOSUR countries produce 50 percent of Latin America's GDP and contain 43 percent of its population and 59 percent of its total landmass. The per capita GDP of its four countries is 30 percent higher than that of Latin America as a whole. Argentina and Brazil dominate MERCOSUR, accounting for over 90 percent of the trading bloc's GDP. Pakistan's export diversification drive requires region specific strategies. There is a need to evolve a strategy comprising pragmatic and doable actions. An unexplored region MERCOSUR (Southern cone common market) which was set up in 1991 with the permanent members Argentina, Brazil, Paraguay & Uruguay with an objective to form a common market through coordinating fiscal and exchange rate policy, and accelerating economic development is the focal attention of Pakistan Government to get benefit from the successful experiences of MERCOSUR region.
