India has expressed optimism that Pakistan will announce the negative list for doing trade with India during the forthcoming visit of Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma which begins on Monday.
“This (announcement of a negative list) is the understanding which was given to us when the Pakistan Commerce secretary came in November,” Sharma said while talking to reporters before his departure.
Indian Commerce Secretary Dr Rahul Khullar added that currently India was operating with a positive list with Pakistan. “What we have agreed to is a sequenced approach in the sense, in the first stage we will move to a negative list and second phase they would dismantle that negative list,” he said.
An array of legal and regulatory barriers has restricted official exchanges to $2.7 billion but Sharma said he was hopeful the sum would jump in the coming years. While Islamabad maintains a positive list of less than 2000 items that can be traded officially, New Delhi has erected non-tariff barriers to restrict imports from Pakistan. Pakistan’s cabinet last year approved in principle to give MFN (most favourite nation) status to India subject to elimination of non-tariff barriers against its exports. n return for dismantling of non-tariff barriers to its exports, Islamabad has agreed to witch over to a negative list of items soon. Sharma’s visit will be the first bilateral visit by an Indian commerce minister to Pakistan.
