China–Pakistan Free Trade Agreement


The China–Pakistan Free Trade Agreement is a major free trade agreement signed between the People's Republic of China and Pakistan. It was concluded in 2006 and entered into effect in July 2007.
Trade volume due to agreement between the two states was $13 billion in 2013, and reached to $20 billion by 2017 when both countries signed 51 agreements and Memorandums of Understanding for cooperation in different fields. China had been contributing significantly to Pakistan’s imports even before the FTA was signed and has seen considerable improvement in its ranking after the FTA was implemented in 2007. By 2012, it was the source for 15% of Pakistan’s overall imports from the world as compared to 9.8% in 2006.

Second Phase

A Second Phase agreement is currently being negotiated between China and Pakistan. The second phase will lower tariffs further as well as normalize various trade procedures.
On April 9, the 11th meeting of the 2nd phase of negotiation of China-Pakistan FTA was held in Beijing. Vice Minister of Commerce and deputy China international trade representative Wang Shouwen met with the delegations led by Pakistan’s Secretary of Ministry of Commerce Sukhera and Secretary of Ministry of Finance Dagha respectively. The two sides conducted in-depth consultations on issues such as tariff reduction of goods trade, investment, and customs cooperation, and made positive progress.
The second phase was operationalized in January of 2020.