Pakistan, July 12 -- Pakistan and Vietnam have agreed to initiate negotiations on a Pakistan-Vietnam Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) within this year.

The development came during the 5th Meeting of the Pakistan-Vietnam Joint Trade Committee (JTC) convened on Friday in Hanoi, reactivating this institutional forum after a hiatus of eight years.

The session was co-chaired by Nasir Hamid, Additional Secretary of Commerce, Islamic Republic of Pakistan, and Phan Thi Thang, Deputy Minister of Industry and Trade, Socialist Republic of Vietnam.

The signing ceremony of the agreed minutes was solemnly witnessed by Jam Kamal Khan, Minister for Commerce of Pakistan, and Nguyen Hong Dien, Minister of Industry and Trade of Vietnam.

The JTC review...