The federal government has said that it has finalised a Free Trade Agreement (FTA) with the Gulf Cooperation Council (GCC) which will include a Bilateral Investment Treaty (BIT).

Caretaker Commerce Minister Gohar Ejaz headed a delegation including officials from the ministry of commerce, the Board of Investment and the Special Investment Facilitation Council to Saudi Arabia where talks were said to be ‘productive’.

The agreement could be approved in the GCC Foreign Ministers meeting which is scheduled to be held in Qatar on Sunday.

“GCC FTA completed today,” Ejaz told Business Recorder.

A major point of negotiations was allowing local forums to resolve business disputes within eight months before they are taken to international forums.

“Only after the domestic forums are given fair chance, international arbitration is agreed to,” Ejaz added.

The government has already instructed the BoI to show ‘felxibility’ in its stance on arbitration which could mean that the GCC insistence on international arbitration could be accepted.

Gohar said on Saturday that he had had productive discussions in Saudi Arabia to finalise the agreement.

“Confident that this agreement will strengthen economic ties between Pakistan and the GCC, fostering new opportunities for trade and investment,” he wrote on X.