Pakistan Country Commercial Guide
Learn about the market conditions, opportunities, regulations, and business conditions in pakistan, prepared by at U.S. Embassies worldwide by Commerce Department, State Department and other U.S. agencies’ professionals
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Trade Agreements
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Pakistan and the United States began negotiating a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) in 2004 and closed the text in 2012, but the agreement has not been signed due to reservations from Pakistani stakeholders. Pakistan has bilateral investment agreements with Australia, Azerbaijan, Mauritius, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Morocco, Belarus, Netherlands, Belgo-Luxemburg Economic Union, Oman, Philippines, Bosnia, Portugal, Bulgaria, Qatar, Cambodia, Romania, China, Singapore, Czech Republic, South Korea, Denmark, Spain, Egypt, Sri Lanka, France, Sweden, Germany, Switzerland, Indonesia, Syria, Iran, Tajikistan, Italy, Tunisia, Japan, Turkey, Kazakhstan, Turkmenistan, Kuwait, U.A.E, Kyrgyz Republic, United Kingdom, Lebanon, Uzbekistan, Laos and Yemen. These investment treaties generally include dispute settlement provisions.

If a dispute cannot be settled through mutual consultation, investors can generally take cases to arbitration under rules of the U.N. Commission on International Trade Law, the World Bank’s International Center for Settlement of Investment Disputes, or to the Court of Arbitration of the International Chamber of Commerce. Pakistan is a member of the Multilateral Investment Guarantee Agency (MIGA), an arm of the World Bank.

Pakistan and the United States signed a Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA) in 2003, which provides a forum for discussion of bilateral trade issues. The most recent TIFA intercessional meeting was held in Islamabad in May 2019.

Pakistan has free trade agreements with Sri Lanka, China, and Malaysia. Pakistan is also a part of the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) and has preferential trade agreements with Iran, Indonesia, Turkey, and Mauritius.

The United States and Pakistan have had a bilateral tax treaty in force since 1959. Pakistan also has double taxation agreements with Austria, Canada, Germany, Indonesia, Italy, Lebanon, Mauritius, Poland, Switzerland, Turkmenistan, Kazakhstan, the United Arab Emirates, Belgium, China, France, Greece, Iran, Japan, Libya, Saudi Arabia, Romania, Sweden, Belarus, Hungary, Jordan, Kenya, Kuwait, Malaysia, Netherlands, Nigeria, Norway, Oman, Philippines, Qatar, South Africa, Syria, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, the United Kingdom, Bangladesh, Denmark, Finland, India, Ireland, South Korea, Malta, Singapore, Sri Lanka, Thailand, Azerbaijan, and Turkey.

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