WTO approves EU trade assistance for Pakistan

A World Trade Organization panel approved a European Union plan to allow Pakistan to export 75 types of goods duty free into the 27-nation bloc to help the South Asian country recover from devastating floods in 2010.

Normally, WTO members have to offer all countries the same preferential treatment.

But the Geneva-based organization s Council for Trade in Goods agreed Wednesday to let the EU offer the duty-free access on goods such as textiles and industrial ethanol only to Pakistan.

The plan covers 27 percent of Pakistan s exports to the EU and could last for up to three years if required.

The EU has said the move will boost Pakistan s exports to the bloc by about €100 million ($132 million) per year compared with 2009.