http://www.dawn.com/2006/03/05/ebr9.htm


Signing of investment treaty deferred




By Our Reporter

ISLAMABAD, March 4: Pakistan and the United States on Saturday deferred the signing of Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) following failure of the two sides to develop consensus at technical level on some clauses of the agreement.

Informed sources told Dawn on Saturday that Pakistani side had proposed amendments in certain clauses for consideration before the draft agreement was inked by the heads of the two states.

“The US side did not reply to Pakistan’s amendments in the disputed clauses. The agreement was even not discussed at proper level. They want to stick to their stand,” the sources said.

This indicated that US was not interested to even talk about the agreement at this stage, the sources said.

According to the sources, initially there was understanding between the two sides that the draft text would be initialled at this stage while the remaining articles would be finalized in the next meeting.

The sources said that the remaining issues would now be sorted out at technical level meetings. The next meeting was scheduled to be held in Washington, the sources said, adding that it seemed that the agreement would now be finalized in next round of meetings. The date for next meeting would be finalized later on.

The issues to be discussed included the definition of some key terms, scope of the treaty, effective implementation of intellectual property rights (IPRs) laws in Pakistan, extent of indirect expropriation and compensation mechanism, the non-confirming issues, taxation and tariff on US investment and regulatory issues; extents of subjects for arbitration and the performance requirements in the light of World Trade Organization, added the sources.

http://www.abcnews.go.com/GMA/story?id=1677088&page=1

It is a pity that Pak still has´nt learnt the rules of the game.

to learn the rules of any game requires a desire to play it. Unfortunately some people (many on this forum) love to be loved by the US.

A relatively innocuous and simple things. No charity involved, no tricky defense equipment, no nuclear stuff, no armtwisting of a third nation just a simple document allowing greater access to US markets and what do they say? No.

and what do we do in return, kill hundereds of our own people!

never mind. there are people who will justify that as well.

still, there are other markets out there.

US has added clauses in the Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT) that are unacceptable to Pakistan. Instead of international or bilateral arbitration to solve trade disputes the US wants only the American courts to rule on them. The international trade agreements and WTO rules are ignored and only US interests will be protected during the dispute. US is playing hard ball against Pakistan.

Hellraiser, do you want Musharraf running Pakistan or the Taliban? We are killing Taliban and I don't really regard the Taliban as our own people. Second of all, I am actually a little surprised that we are getting this treatment from the US after Musharraf became so warm to Israel and to the Jews in general. I say that because of this treatment, it is no longer useful being friendly to Israel. Let's face the facts: Musharraf did it for more trade. Now that we aren't getting any, I say we should move along.

we r getting nothing my frend .... jst bombs in a bit

Well, that is why it is time to move on.

BIT is more of a trap. America wanted trade disputes to be resolved on its own terms. That is unacceptable to Pakistan.

Anyways, once Pakistan becomes strong internally, the investments will come whether the American government likes it or not.

The US did not offer anything to Pakistan during Bush's visit. It did not even comprimise to bilateral arbitration of trade disputes. The BIT and Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is essential for Pakistan as we need the US export market to industrialize and create employment. Actually signing BIT and FTA is also in US interest as close alignment with US economy will decrease the support of MMA and Islamic radicals in Pakistan. The businessmen and exporters will became friendly to US as would their employees.

The US did not offer anything to Pakistan during Bush's visit. It did not even comprimise to bilateral arbitration of trade disputes. The BIT and Free Trade Agreement (FTA) is essential for Pakistan as we need the US export market to industrialize and create employment. Actually signing BIT and FTA is also in US interest as close alignment with US economy will decrease the support of MMA and Islamic radicals in Pakistan. The businessmen and exporters will became friendly to US as would their employees.

Ahmed .. very well said and I for one was quite disturbed by this .. Of course I had never any dreams fo nuclear patch up with USA but on bilateral business side I have had high hopes.

I still think that GOP should move forward aggressively and try to make up for the loss. I am sure they can see a turn around in business deals, if not with USA than with Arab countries and China ; I think with the later they have already started from the word go ...

According to BIT if some people from USA fail to make profit for almost any reason, guess who gets to pay them, yes the Pakistan will be held responsible and all matters would be held in internation courts so that is why Pakistan is not comfortable with the treaty according to Mushraff but his foriegn office people said deal would be sorted after some time. So let's see what comes out of it?