China, Pakistan to introduce early harvest scheme from Jan. 1.

BEIJING, Dec. 9 Kyodo

China and Pakistan on Friday signed an agreement to implement their ''early harvest'' preferential tariff program for an envisaged free trade area, reports said.

The agreement was signed by Pakistani Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan and his Chinese counterpart Bo Xilai.

''Pakistan is the first country with which China will have free trade arrangements under the EHP (early harvest program),'' Bo was quoted as saying at a joint press conference in Beijing, according to  the official Associated Press of Pakistan.

Under the scheme, the two countries will reduce tariffs on 3,000 items in three phases until January 2008. They have agreed on a list of commodities that could be traded at reduced or zero tariffs from Jan. 1, 2006.

In April, during Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao's visit to Islamabad, the two sides announced the launching of negotiations on a China-Pakistan FTA and signed then an early harvest program agreement to provide a basis for the establishment of the FTA.