Abstract
The global challenges related to pandemics and political disputes are one of the hardest front confronted by international development cooperation and becomes the challenge for regional integration initiatives. During the phase of pandemic it is the matter of great concern for all the governments not only to identify possible outcomes to minimize long term losses to their economies but to facilitate the residents for their recovery to challenge the issues of maintaining their livelihood, poverty, employment and through provision of global public goods.The impact of Trade agreements is long-term on a country's economic outlook. China-Pakistan FTA-I entered into force w.e.f Oct.10th, 2009 and bring zero rates on 35.5% of tariff lines and the CPFTAII entered into force w.e.f. Jan-2020 and in terms of tariff lines, China liberalized 1026 new tariff lines. Under CPFTA, China’s tariff on 313- priority tariff lines were eliminated that which cap over $8.7 billion worth of our International exports and over $64 billion worth of imports from China. As a result, though trade with China has increased manifold, still it could not achieve desired results. Additionally, domestic and global economies are passing through an extraordinary time when the world is confronted by pandemic uncertainties and economic threats convoluted by the Ukraine war crunch, where national preferences shaping against globalization. In this background, we need to fast find solutions to these issues and explore how bilateral agreements can be leveraged for enhancing trade ties for sustainable economic growth. This study examines the trade response using export and import data, which indicates the intensity of trade reciprocity by analyzing pre, and post-CPFTA conditions. This study, therefore, aims to comprehend the role of the China-Pakistan Free Trade Agreement (CPFTA) in Pakistan’s trade regime and its contribution to the economy. The study has compared the imports and Pakistani exports to China during and after the CPFTA-I based on Pakistan’s annual GDP growth rate while for due short period of time from 2019 onwards CPFTA-II data is not utilized for analysis. The resulting analysis will be used to recommend measures to increase trade with China and other regional countries, address non-tariff impediments to maximize utilization of the FTA, and address bottlenecks for the implementation of the Free trade agreement and the results foreshadow forthcoming mutual trade in fields of technology, investment, Agriculture, Blue growth and CPEC between both nations.