Description
The United States and Pakistan established diplomatic relations in 1947, shortly after Pakistan gained its independence. Since then, relations have alternated between episodes of close partnership and sharp friction—reflecting the ups and downs of global and regional geopolitics. The tides of foreign policy have correspondingly affected trade and investment. Post-September 11th diplomacy has now created a strong relationship between Pakistan and the United States. Would a free trade agreement between these two counties benefit them? What type of economic benefits could be expected? This new book looks at this question and many others and concludes that a free trade agreement between the United States and Pakistan would benefit both countries.
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Huffbauer (a former professor of international finance diplomacy at Georgetown U. and former US Treasury official) and Burki (a former finance minister of Pakistan) advocate for the establishment of a bilateral US-Pakistan free trade agreement, arguing that it could promote economic reform and thereby strengthen political ties between the US and the military dictatorship of Pervez Musharraf. Following a brief discussion of the historical context and current conditions influencing the negotiation of an agreement, they discuss the possible form of the agreement in the areas of agricultural market access, textiles and clothing, other manufactures, environmental and labor issues, government procurement, and investment and services. They also present estimates of such an agreement's effects using gravity and computable general equilibrium models. Annotation ©2007 Book News, Inc., Portland, OR (booknews.com)
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