Secretary commerce Zafar Mehmood wants to be fully prepared for the second round of talks with his Indian counterpart in New Delhi scheduled for 14th and 15th November. He is collecting details of non-tariff barriers and other impediments applied intentionally or unintentionally by the Indian side.
In an informal chat with business community at TDAP head office, the secretary commerce very candidly discussed the pros and cons of trade with India while forming committees to identify barriers to exports to India and advised the business community to be optimistic towards regional trade, the economic growth and consumer interest. The meeting was attended by Vice President FPCCI Khalid Tawab, DG PAMA Abdul Waheed, Chairman PAPAAM Nabeel Hashmi, and former Chairman PAPAAM Amir Allahwala besides representatives from auto, motorcycles, and steel sheets manufacturers and other sectors.
The secretary commerce said that the federal cabinet has given mandate to the ministry of commerce regarding MFN, and it is his duty to ensure and protect the interest of Pakistani business community while asking India to implement the MFN conditionality in letter and spirit. He said that while India has not given relaxations to Pakistani exporters, under MFN already granted in 1996, Pakistan has also kept its principle stand intact. “A negative list in excess of 500 items out of over 7,000 tradable items will be maintained initially, but will be eliminated with the passage of time,” he added.
The commerce secretary said that Pakistan is not giving any favour to India by offering the status of ‘Most Favored Nation’ (MFN), but all this is covered by existing laws of the World Trade Organisation and international treaties.
Auto industry representatives expressing their reservations said that the government should take a holistic approach towards trade and protecting the local industry. On the one hand it ensures level playing field, on the other, one of its important wings i.e. planning commission, recommends tariff rationalisation which will devastate engineering and smaller industry.
The government, while pursuing initiatives like trade with India should realise that it already has the most liberal used car import policy which shows that there is no preparation for the likely impact of opening trade with India.
Currently Pakistan allows 1,996 items’ import from India under Appendix G of Import Policy Order, which constitutes a positive list. This will now be replaced by a negative list.
The secretary commerce stated that both the countries would be required to dismantle non-tariff barriers to move towards normalisation of trade and explained that it was not something new as both the countries had enjoyed MFN status from 1947 to 1965 and signed four agreements.
