Pakistan to go with open mind in trade talks with India: Puri
Reservations about non-tariff barriers will be discussed.
KARACHI:
Pakistan’s delegation will go with an open mind to Wednesday’s trade talks with India and since the agenda is open-ended, there are hopes that the two countries will move forward, says Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Chief Executive Tariq Puri.
Talking to The Express Tribune on the sidelines of a trade exhibition on Tuesday, Puri said: “Our business community has expressed reservations about non-tariff barriers in trade with India and we want to raise such issues in the talks.”
Pakistan and India are resuming trade talks in Islamabad at the commerce secretary level from Wednesday. Indian Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar reached Pakistan on Tuesday for talks with his Pakistani counterpart Zafar Mehmood.
Responding to a question on the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for India, Puri said, “We will see how it (India) sees our problems, only then we will move forward on the MFN issue.”
Earlier, Puri inaugurated the 5th Food, Agriculture and Livestock Asia 2011 exhibition at the Karachi Expo Centre in the presence of foreign diplomats and dignitaries.
“Unfortunately, we neglected the livestock market in the past despite the fact we have one of the largest livestock populations in the country,” he said.
Citing the presence of foreign exhibitors from France, Russia and Turkey in the exhibition, he said that these countries had a strong livestock sector and their presence in the exhibition showed the interest of foreign companies in Pakistan’s market.
Investment in livestock would not only help Pakistan increase its exports but it would also “assist our people in learning modern techniques,” he said and laid stress on value addition and quality upgrading in the food processing industry.
“The biggest problem is logistics. We are exporting so much processed livestock products that we are running short of airplanes,” he said. Pakistan was fast capitalising on its resources in the livestock sector, owing to which the export of finished food products was increasing rapidly, he added.
Underlining the growth in exports, he said, Pakistan was one of the top exporters of livestock products to Middle Eastern countries. In 1999, exports to the region were almost negligible but today livestock exports are more than $200 million.
More and more companies were opening slaughterhouses in the country because investors saw a huge potential in exports as well as local consumption of food products, he said, adding that such companies were dealing in all types of meat like chicken, beef and mutton.
He mentioned a number of food processing chains, saying many brands had been launched. Few years earlier, he said, “we were exporting live animals but now we earn huge profits by exporting value-added meat products.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2011.
Pakistan’s delegation will go with an open mind to Wednesday’s trade talks with India and since the agenda is open-ended, there are hopes that the two countries will move forward, says Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) Chief Executive Tariq Puri.
Talking to The Express Tribune on the sidelines of a trade exhibition on Tuesday, Puri said: “Our business community has expressed reservations about non-tariff barriers in trade with India and we want to raise such issues in the talks.”
Pakistan and India are resuming trade talks in Islamabad at the commerce secretary level from Wednesday. Indian Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar reached Pakistan on Tuesday for talks with his Pakistani counterpart Zafar Mehmood.
Responding to a question on the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status for India, Puri said, “We will see how it (India) sees our problems, only then we will move forward on the MFN issue.”
Earlier, Puri inaugurated the 5th Food, Agriculture and Livestock Asia 2011 exhibition at the Karachi Expo Centre in the presence of foreign diplomats and dignitaries.
“Unfortunately, we neglected the livestock market in the past despite the fact we have one of the largest livestock populations in the country,” he said.
Citing the presence of foreign exhibitors from France, Russia and Turkey in the exhibition, he said that these countries had a strong livestock sector and their presence in the exhibition showed the interest of foreign companies in Pakistan’s market.
Investment in livestock would not only help Pakistan increase its exports but it would also “assist our people in learning modern techniques,” he said and laid stress on value addition and quality upgrading in the food processing industry.
“The biggest problem is logistics. We are exporting so much processed livestock products that we are running short of airplanes,” he said. Pakistan was fast capitalising on its resources in the livestock sector, owing to which the export of finished food products was increasing rapidly, he added.
Underlining the growth in exports, he said, Pakistan was one of the top exporters of livestock products to Middle Eastern countries. In 1999, exports to the region were almost negligible but today livestock exports are more than $200 million.
More and more companies were opening slaughterhouses in the country because investors saw a huge potential in exports as well as local consumption of food products, he said, adding that such companies were dealing in all types of meat like chicken, beef and mutton.
He mentioned a number of food processing chains, saying many brands had been launched. Few years earlier, he said, “we were exporting live animals but now we earn huge profits by exporting value-added meat products.”
Published in The Express Tribune, April 27th, 2011.