The Commerce Federal Secretary Zafar Mehmood has said that Pakistan would take up the issue of non-tariff barriers with India in the upcoming secretary-level talks, scheduled for April 27 and 28 in Islamabad.
The Federal Secretary was speaking at Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Friday. LCCI President Shahzad Ali Malik, Senior Vice President Sheikh Mohammad Arshad, former Presidents Mian Shafqat Ali, Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry, former Senior Vice Presidents Abdul Basit, Sohail Lashari, former Vice President Aftab Ahmad Vohra and Executive committee members Yousaf Shah, Fahimur Rehman Segol, Ghulam Sarwar Malik and former Secretary General SAARC Chamber Rehmatullah Javed gave their point of view on trade with India.
The Federal Secretary Commerce, while taking business community of Lahore in confidence regarding the upcoming talks with his Indian counterpart, said that all genuine reservations of businessmen would be raised in the forthcoming trade dialogue.
He said that he would convince his Indian counterpart for establishing a Joint Pak-India chamber having the authority to grant visa to businessmen so that they could be able to have maximum bilateral trade.
Some key items on the agenda of secretary-level talks include banking sector cooperation, mechanism for dispute resolution, developing an institutional framework for the promotion of trade ties, home textiles, cement, IT, auto sector, road links, landing rights for Pakistani TV channels, said Zafar Mehmood.
Pakistan will resume the stalled trade talks with India with an “open mind” and hope to develop an institutional framework to enable the two South Asian nations exploit their vast potential, he said. “Integrity of intent” remains vital to boost trade, which suffered because of the 2008 terrorist strike in Mumbai, he said.
While appreciating government for initiating process of consultation with private sector on trade with India and MFN status, the LCCI President Shahzad Ali Malik said that there is a need to do serious homework for improving bilateral trade ties. “We need to resolve all our major outstanding disputes including Kashmir and water through trade and not at the expense of trade.” He urged the Federal Secretary to work with counterparts in India to develop and integrate air, sea and road network to facilitate the flow of cargo across borders and beyond.
He said that choices are limited in trade finance, which is benefiting third country banking institutions. Banks from both sides should be allowed to operate in each other’s country and offer Pakistan and Indian rupee accounts. He said that Pak-India trade relations need an innovative approach. One such way of promoting bilateral trade in a barrier-less environment is to establish Combined Free Trade Zones (FTZs) at various points across the Pak-India border, where people can enter and exit by showing their respective proof of national identity.
