Islamabad—Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) has decided to relax trade safeguards measures in iron goods import from Pakistan applied in the import of angles, channels and beams iron products used in construction.

This decision has been communicated by Technical Secretariat of Anti-Dumping (TSAD) of GCC to Pakistan recently, Engineering Development Board (EDB) sources said.

The decision would facilitate and ease export of these items from Pakistan to GCC countries including Saudi Arabia, United Arab Emirates, Kuwait, Bahrain, Oman and Qatar, they added.

The sources added that Pakistan is one of the developing countries that export these iron items to GCC markets less than three per cent.

Thus, almost all economic barriers would be eliminated against import of these iron products made in Pakistan, GCC noticed, they added.

They further said that a cursory look on the export of these items from Pakistan shows that import of these products by GCC countries has increased from 388,000 tones to 871,000 metric tones since 2005. GCC countries as hub of construction activities in recent years have enhanced import of these construction materials comprising beams, channels and angles, the sources said.

“Pakistan being within close geographic proximity of Gulf region can be advantageous and profitable for both GCC states and Pakistan itself also”, the sources said.—APP