Virtual University of Pakistan Video Lectures, Handouts, PPT, Quizzes, Assignments & Papers
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INTEREST RATE RISK
- Bank Risk
- Interest Rate Risk (Cont.)
- Trading Risk
- Other Risks
- Globalization of Banking
- The Future of Banks
- Non-depository Institutions
- Insurance Companies
- Securities Firms
- Finance Companies
- Government Sponsored Enterprises
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WORLD TRADE ORGANIZATION (WTO)
PAKISTAN & WTO – III
WTO Agreements on TBT and SPS
To meet the requirements of WTO Agreements on Technical Barriers of Trade (TBT) and Sanitary and Phytosanitary Standards (SPS), Pakistan has taken a number of key initiatives aimed at strengthening technical institutions capabilities in standard setting, compliance.
In Pakistan, ISO9000 – and ISO14000 certification is rising and reportedly now well over 3,000 companies are ISO 9000 certified. as for ISO 14000 certifications, out of a total of 103 countries, Pakistan ranks 56th with only ten ISO 14001 certified firms while India is 19th. All these companies are certified by foreign based bodies. The problem with foreign certification bodies is that notwithstanding the fact that they are accredited by reputable accreditation bodies, very few have been listed for surveillance audits in Pakistan. This greatly reflects on the performance of these certification bodies.
Against this backdrop, Pakistan National Accreditation Council (PNAC) was set up in 1998 in Ministry of Science & Technology and in 1999, under ADB-assisted Trade Export Promotion & Industry Program (TEPI). Project, it launched the accreditation services for ISO 9000/ISO 14000 certification bodies and ISO-17025 laboratory certification.
According to Pakistan Country Report on Trade and Sustainable Development, prepared by Sustainable Development Policy Institutes (SDPI), in October 2002, the TBT and SPS agreements present both an opportunity and constraints. The two agreements seek to increase market access for the exports of its member countries. However, the prerequisite is that they abide by the strict rules the WTO has formulated for the development of mandatory technical regulations, voluntary standards and conformity assessment procedures. This is where developing countries like Pakistan come up short. They do not possess the institutional and technical capacity to develop, advocate and formalize such standards in WTO for a, nor the conformity assessment and accreditation bodies to certify that domestic industries are complying with international standards. While the WTO, in principle, offers technical assistance to developing countries to develop these capabilities, the concern expressed by various stakeholders suggest that Pakistan has not tapped into these opportunities.
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