But Washington has refused to grant a bigger and far more important concession: duty-free access for Pakistani imports.

If there is a stronger case than Pakistan's for duty-free access, it is certainly hard to find.

Companies came to take advantage of cheap labor and duty-free access to the United States.

Here is how: The pact would give the five countries duty-free access to the American market if they use American material, like yarn.

The United States already provides more than $20 billion in duty-free access for developing countries.

Israel was the first country granted duty-free access to the American market and later signed a free trade deal with Canada.

Bangladesh and other very poor countries have been lobbying Washington to grant them duty-free access to the American market.

"We support the concept of duty-free access for Africa in textiles and apparel," he said.

These programs extend duty-free access for certain countries to developing countries.

Tariff reductions or duty-free access to the internal market enable trade to make a contribution to reducing poverty in these countries.