Pakistan has decided to allow import of all goods other than those included in negative list from India through Wagha land route, officials told Business Recorder on Wednesday. The sources said that the decision to open up Wagha-Attari route for all permissible items of trade was taken during the meeting between the President of Pakistan and the Prime Minister of India at New York on September 24, 2008.
On a summary moved by the Ministry of Commerce in consultation with all the relevant Ministries, Economic Co-ordination Committee (ECC) of the Cabinet in its meeting held on March 19, 2009 decided that trade through Wagha-Attari for permissible items of trade will be fully operationalised after necessary infrastructure is developed on both side of the border.
Subsequently infrastructure development started on both sides of the border. During the 5th round of Commerce Secretaries level talks held on 27-28 April, 2011 at Islamabad both sides appreciated the significant progress made in developing physical infrastructure for trade through the Wagha-Attari land route. A Joint Technical Committee (JTC) for trade and travel was constituted to facilitate the co-ordinated efforts for opening of the second gate and new dedicated roads for passenger and freight traffic. JTC held six meetings and reviewed the infrastructure development.
The Indian government inaugurated the Integrated Check Post (ICP) on April 13, 2012. Minister for Commerce, Pakistan and Chief Minister of Punjab, Pakistan along with the Home and Commerce Ministers of India and Chief Minister of Punjab, India were present on the occasion. Presently, Pakistan''s developed infrastructure at Wagha allows handling of 200-300 trucks daily.
There are three limiting factors constraining trade of goods at Wagha. Firstly, only 137 tariff lines are importable from India in accordance with the list of items appearing in Appendix G-I of Import Policy Order 2009 (SRO280 dated March 20 this year). All other items currently importable from India under different tariff lines can only be imported by sea or through Wagha by rail. However, there is no restriction on exports to India through Wagha either by rail or road.
Everyday household items are already allowed to be imported through Wagha. Import of kitchen items like tomatoes, onions, ginger, garlic, fruits and vegetables due to local requirement in last couple of years has provided stability in the retail prices of these products in Pakistan.
Existing infrastructure available at Wagha is inadequate. Technical facilities including, weighing, scanning, warehousing, laboratories as well as support facilities provided such as cold storages, banks, parking lots and fuel outlets need to be upgraded. The Secretary Commerce held meetings with all the stakeholders on May 29 and July 28 this year to review the current status of infrastructure facilities available at Wagha and assessment of future requirements after normalisation of trade with India.
After assessing the infrastructure at Wagha/ Attari border in accordance with Rule 18 (4) of Rules of Business, 1973, a draft Summary for ECC to open Wagha for all goods was circulated among relevant stakeholders for their comments. All stakeholders agreed to the proposal to allow import of all goods other than those included in the Negative List from India through Wagha. The Ministry of Industries and Ministry of Interior, however, recommended that there should be a staggered approach in proportion to the capacity and capability enhancement of infrastructure to handle the flow. NLC expressed reservations on the proposal to include private sector in provision of services at the port.
After considering comments of stakeholders, Commerce Ministry submitted following proposals to the ECC of the Cabinet: (i) since a separate proposal to set up a Land Port Authority has already been moved in Trade Policy, the proposal to constitute a committee may be put on hold for some time; (ii) import of all goods other than those included in the Negative List may be allowed to be imported from India through Wagha land route; (iii) to stagger imports from India through Wagha, imports of all goods other than those included in the negative list may be allowed to be imported by manufacturers-cum-importers only.
For this purpose, all the relevant stakeholders may hold consultations to finalise the modalities; however agriculture and food products may be exempted from condition of staggering imports. To avoid congestion at the Wagha dry port, transshipment of consignments to the dry ports/off dock terminal if any in the cities of destination will also be allowed.