LAHORE: The Indian High Commissioner Sharat Sabharwal has said that businessmen should strive to create a win-win situation for both Pakistan and India as the governments could only create a conducive environment for trade and it was up to the businessmen to take advantage.
The Indian High Commissioner expressed these views while he was talking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry on Monday.
The High Commissioner said that the Indian economy had emerged as one of the fastest growing economies of the world in recent years and it was highly likely that the country would attain an annual growth rate of nine percent during the coming years. He added that India’s progression on the path of high growth and rapid development would lead to prosperity for the rest of South Asia.
He maintained that Intra SAARC exports stands at a meager five percent of the total exports of the region, while the percentage is much higher in other regional groupings such as ASEAN and NAFTA, where it stands at 22 percent and 52 percent respectively.
He was irked at the restrictions on bilateral trade between the two countries which he believed had impeded realisation of the full trade potential of SAARC.
He added that India had fulfilled its commitments under the SAFTA by drawing up a sensitive list beyond which all items could be imported from Pakistan and other SAARC countries. However, he said that Pakistan continued to maintain a positive list of less than 2,000 items and the import of the residual items from India stayed banned.
He expressed hope that the situation would improve and change in the interest of both countries. Sharat Sabharwal recalled Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh’s vision of a transformed South Asia where cooperation of all countries could help the region move from poverty to prosperity.
Referring to Non-Tariff Barriers in India, the High Commissioner said that the reference appeared to be requirements of technical standard certification, standard of quality, sanitary and health regulations. He clarified that such specifications applied to all trading partners of India and were not specifically for Pakistan.
Sabharwal appreciated visits by a number of business delegations from Pakistan to India over the last one year. A delegation of 50 businessmen went to Delhi in May this year at the invitation of the Confederation of Indian industry.
Approximately 40 businessmen from Pakistan attended the buyer-seller meeting of chemical industry in Delhi last month, while 260 businessmen were given a visa to attend the 15th Edition of CII Chandigarh Fair from October 29 to November 1, 2010. In addition, 185 businesses visas have been accorded for participation of Pakistani businessmen in the ongoing India International Trade Fair at Delhi. A high powered delegation of the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce & Industry is currently in India at the invitation of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce & Industry. Speaking on the occasion, the LCCI President Shahzad Ali Malik was dismayed over the low volume of trade between India and Pakistan. He said that India and Pakistan should promote regional trade on the pattern of ASEAN, EU, NAFTA, etc. to boost bilateral trade.
He believed that the promotion of trade was the only way to reduce political tension in the region. The two neighboring countries should not mix trade with politics and the business community should be allowed to carry on trade without hurdles.
He was exasperated at the imposition of NTBs (non-tariff barriers) by the Indian government which had hampered the smooth flow of Pakistani export into India. He demanded the Indian government to lift all NTBs.
“A strong trade relation would automatically help stabilise political relations”, he said.
He stressed the need to promote border trade particularly through land routes which was in favour of both the countries. He claimed that potential gains from augmented economic integration between India and Pakistan were large whereas mutual trade between the two countries was unnaturally small.
Pakistan’s major exports to India include vegetables, fruits & nuts, sugar confectionery, mineral fuels, salt etc. but these exports form an insignificant proportion of India’s imports of these commodities. A big chunk of these commodities is imported by India from countries other than Pakistan.
If trade restrictions between Pakistan and India are lifted, exports of these commodities to India can jump massively. Similarly, there exists a great potential for export of fish, resins, animal, vegetable fats, beverages, spirits, vinegar, leather and leather goods, carpets, pharmaceutical products and tobacco.
Pakistan can import cotton seed, meat, dairy products, vegetables, fruits, tea, cereals, organic chemicals, pharmaceutical products, tanning, dyeing extracts, chemical products, plastics, rubber and rubber products, iron & steel, machinery, vehicles, raw materials and semi finished products etc. Informal trade, via third countries (such as the United Arab Emirates, specifically Dubai), stands at approximately $2 billion to $3 billion annually and this trade could potentially be undertaken bilaterally at significantly lower cost.
The LCCI President urged the Indian government to allow representatives from the private sector of Pakistan to establish trade offices for various products in India.
He believed that an ease in restrictions on visas, specifically allowance of multiple entry visas for businessmen, elimination of requirements to report arrival to the police at each place of stay, abolishment of city-specific visas and acceleration of the approval processes could help build new avenues of trade promotion.
