Federal Secretary commerce Zafar Mehmood has said that India would have to dismantle all Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) to Pakistan’s satisfaction to get MFN status.
“We have pleaded to our Indian counterparts to dismantle all NTBs first so that both the sides have a level playing field to do business with each other.”
The federal secretary was speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry Thursday. LCCI President Irfan Qaiser Sheikh presented the welcome address, while vice president Saeeda Nazar, former presidents Shahzada Alam Monoo, Mian Anjum Nisar, Mian Muzaffar Ali, Shahzad Ali Malik, former KCCI president Qaiser Ahmad Sheikh, former president Gujrat Chamber Mirza Imtiaz Ahmad, former senior vice president Sohail Lashari and former vice president Aftab Ahmad Vohra also spoke on the occasion.
The federal secretary, however, made it clear to the businessmen that MFN does not mean any sort of preferential arrangement rather it creates a prosperous environment for the trading partners so that they could be able to do business. Being a signatory of WTO, Pakistan is required to give same treatment to all WTO members including India, the federal secretary added. Talking about the negative list, the federal secretary said that the government was ready to put more items on this list, provided they are forwarded to the Ministry with a proper reasoning or logic for being on the negative list. The negative list with India is refreshed on a yearly basis in the month of June, the secretary said.
He said that the Indian goods would not be allowed to reach Afghanistan even after granting MFN status to India. He said that all decisions would be made keeping in view the national interests and for the purpose the ministry had already initiated the consultation process with all the chambers and trade bodies.
Zafar Mehmood said that trade between Pakistan and India is not normal as World Bank and other such global institutions have estimated that goods worth $1 billion to $5 billion dollars are being imported by Pakistan from India through a third country. The federal secretary informed the business community that Pakistan would get GSP Plus status from the European Union on January 1, 2014 as India has withdrawn its opposition and objections. He said that GSP plus status would give considerable boost to Pakistan’s exports to European Union.
In his welcome address, LCCI president Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that we are in favour of the promotion of trade especially with our neighbouring countries because we believe that by enhancing the trade ties with our neighbours, we can succeed in bringing economic boost and reviving our industry. But we do not favour any agreement at the cost of industry which is currently making all out efforts to survive in the presence of acute energy crisis, rising inflation, widespread corruption and deteriorating law and order situation.
LCCI president made it clear to the visiting federal secretary that a hurried decision on MFN status to India will deal a fatal blow to pharmaceutical, automobile, motorcycle, petro-chemical, auto parts, sugar, textiles, cooking oil and ghee industries. He said that any forward step without addressing the concerns and fears of private sector with regard to awarding MFN status to India will only result in causing more problems to the domestic industry and the economy overall.
Irfan Qaiser Sheikh said that there are complex domestic, political and security compulsions on both sides which are bearing heavily on the existing framework for bilateral trade. He said that the business community strongly feels that despite having granted Pakistan MFN status, a great deal of non-tariff and para-tariff barriers are still in place while exporting to India.
Things have to be reciprocated. If Pakistan takes a step forward, India should follow suit otherwise this would just end up being a lip service.
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