Pakistan is hopeful that India will allow Islamabad to boost textile exports to Europe under a post-floods trade assistance scheme as relations between the neighbours improve, diplomats said on Monday.
A meeting of trade ministers of Pakistan and India in New Delhi in late September is likely to yield an announcement that India will drop its veto of a European Union duty-free programme for Pakistani products, diplomats in Brussels, Geneva and London said.
“This is a very positive message from India to Pakistan and the government of Pakistan will very much appreciate it,” Pakistan’s High Commissioner to London Wajid Shamsul Hasan told Reuters. A trade ministry official in New Delhi would not be drawn on the outcome of the meeting but confirmed the ministers would discuss the issue when they meet on September 28.
A formal approval by India could follow at the World Trade Organisation in early November and subsequently by the European parliament, opening the way for European duties to be lifted on a list of Pakistani textiles and other products, including ethanol, as early as next January, diplomats said.
“We welcome news reports (of India planning to drop its veto) but of course await any decision at the level of the WTO,” said John Clancy, spokesman for the EU Executive Commission that has been pressing for the waiver. If it is approved, it is likely to add 100 million euros ($136 million) to Pakistan’s annual exports.
Published in The Express Tribune, September 13th, 2011.
COMMENTS (2)
Comments are moderated and generally will be posted if they are on-topic and not abusive.
For more information, please see our Comments FAQ
1714129906-0/Clint-Eastwood-(1)1714129906-0-270x192.webp)
The cost of peace with PAK for India is $130 million?
As much as I appreciate the humanitarian nature of the gesture from India, PAK has to compete in global market like other countries without subsidies to establish her domestic sector. Building the domestic textile industry based on international subsidy will render Pakistan vulnerable to changing world political climate and very much dependent on the import countries forever. PAK textile industry will crash when the import countries levy tax in the future. To save that from happening, PAK has to compromise on the other areas.
Strength of trade is on the quality and quantity of goods produced and not on artificial profit making through manipulated market. What happens to the textile exporters from India? Are they not as important as PAK textile exporters? Obviously, India has to remove the $130 million export tax from her domestic textile sector and collect that tax instead from her citizens' tax. In the end it is a zero sum game for PAK textile exporters, yet they are now dependent on subsidy.
Natural calamities of a nation can not be a part of economic policy. Nations can get humanitarian aid beyond the amount saved on import levy by the exporters.
The flood donations are example.
Finally some sanity from both sides.