Non-Discriminatory Market Access: Pakistan looks to open up trade with India
Proposal to soften curbs at Wagah to be presented before cabinet.
Finance Minister Ishaq Dar. PHOTO: ZAFAR ASLAM/EXPRESS
ISLAMABAD:
Pakistan has in principle decided to revive the process of normalising trade with India, barely days after Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs ruled out its possibility in the near future.
A special government panel constituted to examine trade ties with New Delhi on Thursday decided to ask the federal cabinet to approve the fresh roadmap for granting Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) – a term coined after Most Favoured Nation (MFN) became controversial – to India, sources told The Express Tribune. The new term will grant India the same benefits as envisaged under MFN.
A proposal to soften trade restrictions at the Wagah border, and a new timetable to phase out the Negative List – 1,209 items that cannot be imported from India – will be presented before the federal cabinet in its next meeting, they said.
According to the sources, the decision of the special panel – which is led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and includes Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi – comes despite reservations expressed by the Foreign Office (FO). They said the FO did not believe normalising trade ties with India could provide any of the benefits Pakistan expected.
However, former commerce secretary Zafar Mahmood, who played a key role in normalising trade relations with India during 2011-2012, said the special panel conducted its evaluations with ‘an open mind’.
Talking to The Express Tribune, one of the participants of the special panel’s meeting said at this stage, Pakistan would be much better off if the cabinet decided to go for complete trade normalisation with India.
“India has agreed to even more concessions now than the threshold agreed during secretary level talks in September 2012,” he said.
According to the proposals the panel agreed upon, Pakistan will, as a first step, allow India to import all goods through the Wagah-Attari border – only 137 items can be imported through the border currently. The border would also remain open 24 hours a day, sources said.
In response to Pakistan’s initiative, India will have to bring down its Pakistan-specific sensitive list to 100 tariff lines from the current level of 614 items.
Meanwhile, Dar urged officials of the commerce ministry to ensure all concessions Pakistan granted to India were made on a reciprocal basis.
The transition towards the full normalisation of trade relations with India began in March 2012 by moving from a Positive List of 1,936 tradable goods to a Negative List of 1,209 prohibited items. Pakistan had announced it would phase out the Negative List by the end of 2012 but India’s reluctance to remove non-tariff barriers stalled the normalisation process.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2014.
Pakistan has in principle decided to revive the process of normalising trade with India, barely days after Adviser to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs ruled out its possibility in the near future.
A special government panel constituted to examine trade ties with New Delhi on Thursday decided to ask the federal cabinet to approve the fresh roadmap for granting Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) – a term coined after Most Favoured Nation (MFN) became controversial – to India, sources told The Express Tribune. The new term will grant India the same benefits as envisaged under MFN.
A proposal to soften trade restrictions at the Wagah border, and a new timetable to phase out the Negative List – 1,209 items that cannot be imported from India – will be presented before the federal cabinet in its next meeting, they said.
According to the sources, the decision of the special panel – which is led by Finance Minister Ishaq Dar and includes Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir and Special Assistant to the Prime Minister on Foreign Affairs Tariq Fatemi – comes despite reservations expressed by the Foreign Office (FO). They said the FO did not believe normalising trade ties with India could provide any of the benefits Pakistan expected.
However, former commerce secretary Zafar Mahmood, who played a key role in normalising trade relations with India during 2011-2012, said the special panel conducted its evaluations with ‘an open mind’.
Talking to The Express Tribune, one of the participants of the special panel’s meeting said at this stage, Pakistan would be much better off if the cabinet decided to go for complete trade normalisation with India.
“India has agreed to even more concessions now than the threshold agreed during secretary level talks in September 2012,” he said.
According to the proposals the panel agreed upon, Pakistan will, as a first step, allow India to import all goods through the Wagah-Attari border – only 137 items can be imported through the border currently. The border would also remain open 24 hours a day, sources said.
In response to Pakistan’s initiative, India will have to bring down its Pakistan-specific sensitive list to 100 tariff lines from the current level of 614 items.
Meanwhile, Dar urged officials of the commerce ministry to ensure all concessions Pakistan granted to India were made on a reciprocal basis.
The transition towards the full normalisation of trade relations with India began in March 2012 by moving from a Positive List of 1,936 tradable goods to a Negative List of 1,209 prohibited items. Pakistan had announced it would phase out the Negative List by the end of 2012 but India’s reluctance to remove non-tariff barriers stalled the normalisation process.
Published in The Express Tribune, February 28th, 2014.