Homework done to grant NDMA status to India: Dastgir

Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir said on Wednesday Pakistan has completed homework to grant Non Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) status to India and the green signal is awaited from new Modi government. Commerce Minister who has recently returned from Washington made these remarks at a press conference in Islamabad.
Analysts, however, are of the view that the Nawaz government desires to grant NDMA status to India, which will not be an easy task because of tense relations with the establishment. Washington has spent millions of dollars to pave way for NDMA or MFN status for India.
"Islamabad is ready and waiting for Indian government's green signal for holding talks on NDMA issue," the minister added. The government was ready to grant NDMA status to India in March this year but it delayed the decision to wait for the new Indian government for holding further talks. The new Indian government has yet to assume charge and we will have to see who will be their commerce and textile minister.
Dastgir said Pakistan's exports to the United States would double in next five years from existing $3.5 billion. He said exports to the US are around $3.5 billion against imports of $1.8 billion at present. "There will be no sudden increase in exports to the US. However, Pakistan will have to put its house in order to trade with the world," the commerce minister maintained.
Talking about Bilateral Investment Treaty with the US, he said, "A delegation of the commerce ministry would leave for Washington in next few months to hold talks with the US trade experts on BIT. Later, the government will present its reservations to the US government on BIT." On a question about Reconstruction Opportunity Zones, the minister said, "Pakistan is asking the US government for alternative, as the Congress did not make any legislation on it".
Earlier, the commerce minister informed media on the recently concluded 7th round of United States - Pakistan Trade and Investment Framework Agreement (TIFA). He said Pakistan is holding talks with the US on the basis of 'trade not aid", as already announced by Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif during his visit to Washington Dastgir said the United States and Pakistan announced agreement on a Joint Action Plan to expand bilateral trade and investment flows over the next five years. He said areas of co-operation included in the Joint Action Plan are: diversifying agricultural production, enhancing intellectual property protection, implementing the World Trade Organisation (WTO) Trade Facilitation Agreement, engaging on Pakistan's accession to the WTO government procurement agreement, increasing trade in services, outreach to US state and local governments, promoting entrepreneurship and increasing dialogue between our respective private sectors.
The commerce minister said both the governments would immediately start work on implementing the Joint Action Plan. As noted in the Joint Action Plan, the United States and Pakistan established a bilateral working group to meet regularly to oversee implementation of the Joint Action Plan and to monitor progress in specific areas, he added.
Khurram Dastgir said, "At the TIFA council meeting, the United States and Pakistan signed a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) on Joint Efforts to Empower Women and to Promote Women's Entrepreneurship. This is a historic MOU that will provide a mechanism for discussion on how to help ensure that women participate fully in the economy and get access to economic, as well as trade and investment, opportunities."
Key elements of the MOU included exploring ways to ensure strong interagency and inter-ministerial support for, and co-ordination of, policies and programmes aimed at the economic empowerment of women; promote access to information about laws, regulations, policies, including information on international trade rules, requirements and preference programmes; and address and remove the impediments that women and women entrepreneurs generally face.
The United States and Pakistan intend the MoU to be a standing item on the agenda for all future TIFAs and intend to begin discussions immediately on an implementation plan for the MoU. At the TIFA council meeting, both governments discussed market access opportunities and exchanged views on how to enhance those opportunities. On the margins of the TIFA council meeting, private sector representatives from the United States and Pakistan met to discuss trade and investment opportunities in textiles and apparel sector, as well as in the information and the communications technologies sector.