Pakistan asks Qatar to back early Pakistan-GCC free trade deal, lift bone-in meat curbs and buy rice through TCP

Pakistan has asked Qatar to help get the Pakistan-GCC free trade agreement signed soon, Commerce Minister Jam Kamal Khan told his Qatari counterpart in Doha on Saturday, 24 October, according to a Ministry of Commerce statement reported by Business Recorder on Sunday.

Jam Kamal and Dr Ahmad bin Mohammed Al-Sayed, Qatar's Minister of State for Foreign Trade Affairs, co-chaired the second meeting of the Pakistan-Qatar Joint Task Force on Trade and Investment, and signed the minutes of the first meeting.

Where the GCC deal stands

Pakistan says it finished its own approvals for the free trade agreement with the six Gulf Cooperation Council states (Saudi Arabia, the UAE, Qatar, Kuwait, Oman and Bahrain) and sent the approved text to the GCC Secretariat on 31 December 2025. The deal now waits on the Gulf side, which is why Islamabad is asking individual members such as Qatar to push it.

For exporters, an FTA would mean lower or zero duties on Pakistani goods across the Gulf, the region where millions of Pakistanis work and where much of the country's food exports already go. Pakistan's trade gap with the Gulf narrowed in July to September as imports fell; see our report on the Gulf trade deficit.

Meat and rice

• Bone-in meat: Pakistan asked Qatar to lift its restrictions on bone-in meat imports from Pakistan and says it has already sent Qatari authorities a technical dossier on animal health and food safety.
• Rice: Pakistan proposed a government-to-government arrangement under which the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) would supply rice to Qatar's state food company Hassad Food. The proposal still needs federal cabinet approval.

What Pakistan offered Qatari investors

The two sides also discussed setting up 11 technical working groups on logistics, aviation, advanced manufacturing, mining and minerals, agriculture, tourism, fintech, healthcare, education, IT and start-ups. Pakistan shared its members and asked Qatar to name its own. Pakistan will host the third task force meeting.

In Doha, Jam Kamal also met Nan Li Collins, head of the World Investment Forum, to talk about regional connectivity and economic cooperation.

What it means for you

Nothing changes at the border yet: no duty has been cut and no meat or rice contract signed. If the GCC deal is signed, the first effects would show in export prices for food, textiles and other goods sold in the Gulf. Exporters paid in dirhams or riyals can track the rupee on our UAE dirham and Saudi riyal pages, and convert payments with the currency converter.