Pakistan, July 11 -- Pakistan and Vietnam have agreed to begin negotiations on a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) within this year, aiming to boost trade flows between the two countries. The decision was made during the 5th Joint Trade Committee (JTC) meeting held in Hanoi on Friday, marking the first session of its kind in eight years.

The meeting was co-chaired by Nasir Hamid, Additional Secretary of Commerce, and Phan Thi Thang, Vietnam's Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade. Senior ministers from both sides, Jam Kamal Khan and Nguyen Hong Dien, formally witnessed the signing of the meeting's agreed minutes. Officials discussed deeper cooperation in key sectors such as textiles, fisheries, Halal certification, banking, civil aviati...