Federal Secretary Commerce Zafarq Mahmood on Friday said consultation on granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India with the industry stakeholders would be completed by the end of this month. Later, the issue would be presented in the Cabinet for the approval, he added. However, he refrained from mentioning a timeline.
He was speaking at a consultative meeting held at the All Pakistan Textile Mills Association (Aptma) Punjab office. Central Chairman Aptma Mohsin Aziz and Chairman Aptma Punjab Ahsan Bashir were also present. Mahmood said it would be appropriate to listen to the business community's concerns as far as MFN status for India is concerned. The businessmen have never taken full advantage of tariff structure in Pakistan, he added.
He said the purpose of his visit was to get collective feedback from the industry on latest developments regarding Pakistan's move to grant MFN status to India. He said normalisation of trade with India was very important in this current era. Mahmood said bilateral trade between Pakistan and India started in 1947 and stopped in 1965. Until 1974 there was no trade between the two countries. He said the Simla Agreement resulted in permission of trade of four items and the approach of positive list continued till 1995 as per local requirements.
He said the upgradation of GATT by WTO resulted in more liberal arrangement in 1995 and it was made obligatory for the members including Pakistan not to discriminate each other. India offered the MFN status in line with WTO requirements, though this grant of MFN status was only an announcement, as no Indian trader ever tried to import from Pakistan. He said not a single mango was ever imported by Indian importers despite the fact that mango season ends their before than Pakistan. Therefore, he said, Pakistan industry's concerns regarding Non-Tariff Barriers (NTBs) from India are genuine.
However, the commerce secretary dispelled the impression that Pakistan had avoided granting MFN status to India. It was not true, he said, adding that it was due to non-observance of trading principals and the NTBs. He said the developed countries always kept aside their political differences and maintained trade relations like Turkey and EU, China and Taiwan and China and Hong Kong. Unfortunately Pakistan and India always had issues over Kashmir and never joined hands for trade. Undoubtedly, the economies of these two countries have suffered greatly due to trade restriction.
However, he said some efforts were made to normalise trade relations between the two countries and composite dialogue started after 1995. A total of four rounds were held when Mumbai event took place, which brought dialogue to a complete halt. However, the process resumed in 2011 and a 21-point roadmap was prepared.
He said the Commerce Minister has been relying upon its consultation with the industry to seek guidance for the way forward, which could lead to consensus on trade normalisation with India on equal basis. He said the issue of NTBs was well taken up during the visit of Makhdoom Amin Fahim to India. Fahim asked them for removal of NTBs as a permanent solution to normalise trade relations. He said the second round of talks was likely to start and expressed the hope that both sides would show flexibility on dismantling all trade barriers.
He also appreciated India for withdrawing opposition to Pakistan in the EU for trade concessions on 75 items. Also, he said Pakistan would seek support for India in availing GSP Plus scheme in 2014. Aptma Chairman Mohsin Aziz said Indian textile industry has advantage in man made fibers and synthetics, therefore, the government should ensure a safeguard measure before extending MFN status to India.
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