ISLAMABAD, AUG 9 (DNA) -Fulfilling the mandate of the leaders between two countries to broaden the scope of the Indonesia-Pakistan Preferential Trade Agreement (IP-PTA) and following up on the implementation of the IP-PTA Amendment Protocol, the delegations of Indonesia and Pakistan have begun the first negotiation on the Indonesian Joint Negotiating Committee (JNC) -Pakistan Trade in Goods Agreement (IP-TIGA) in Islamabad, Pakistan.

The Indonesian delegation (Delri) at this meeting was chaired by the Director of Bilateral Negotiations, Ni Made Ayu Marthini, while the Pakistani delegation was led by the Joint Secretary (FTA Wing) of the Ministry of Commerce of Pakistan, Shafiq A. Shahzad.

On the first meeting of the JNC IP-TIGA, the Indonesian delegation consisted of representatives from the Ministry of Trade, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the Coordinating Ministry for Economic Affairs, the Ministry of Finance, and the Indonesian Embassy in Islamabad.

In the negotiations two delegations discussed the finalization of the terms of reference (ToR) as well as the IP-TIGA work plan and timeline as a guide in conducting negotiations.

The two delegations also discussed several issues of bilateral trading between Indonesia and Pakistan, including those related to market access, the follow-up to the signing of the MoU on Trade Promotion, and trade barriers.=DNA