India Ready To Remove Non-Tariff Barriers.

Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood and his Indian counterpart Rahul Khullar led the talks in Islamabad, opening a two-day session aimed at boosting business between the two countries.

The two sides agreed to revive all those committees/working groups constituted before the Mumbai attacks so as to resume
work on measures for facilitation and promotion of trade.

The potential of bilateral trade is estimated to go up to $6.5 billion from the current $2 billion.

On Thursday, Islamabad will raise the issue of Delhi’s opposition at WTO to European Union’s decision to provide duty-free access to Pakistani goods, while India may seek ‘most favoured nation’ status and discuss the possibility of export of electricity and petroleum products.

Sources told Dawn that the Indian delegation had agreed to eliminate all Pakistan-specific non-tariff barriers (NTBs). “We are ready to remove NTBs if there is any Pakistan specific,” said the Indian side.

Pakistan wanted India to remove a raft of NTBs, for example lab tests for textiles, directing imports of specific goods through designated terminals, etc. But the Indian officials have maintained that there exist no Pakistan-specific NTBs, saying they are for all imported goods.

There appeared to be some “cultural” problems wherein “Pakistani goods get “special treatment”, a trade official said, adding Pakistani exports could make a mark in textiles, surgical equipment and sports goods.

The sources said that the two sides had also agreed to revive committees/working groups on customs cooperation, trade facilitation, standards and conformance and sanitary and phyto-sanitary measures. The sub-groups/working groups of India-Pakistan Joint Study Group (JSG) were constituted a few years ago to promote bilateral trade.

During previous meetings, even the sub-group on customs and trade facilitation had reached some understanding on constitution of a customs liaison committee at the Attari-Wagah border and electronic exchange of information.

The two sides agreed to exchange a list of 20 products for export and worked out procedures for their trade facilitation.

According to the trade official, understanding on these issues had been reached in 2007, but nothing positive had happened so far. It appeared that such decisions were made only for official records and not for implementation, he added.

The official said Pakistan had expanded the positive list for trade with India, a move that benefited Delhi and the only area where progress had been made.

The sources said that the two sides agreed to revive the geographical indication (GI) joint working group to resolve a dispute over the ownership of super basmati, which is believed to have been grown in Pakistan but was registered in India for export
purposes. “A meeting of the group will be convened much before June 15 to discuss the issue.”

The Pakistani side was informed that the Indian government had allocated 1.5 billion Indian rupees for developing infrastructure at the Wagah border. “The Indian government is determined to promote trade at the Wagah border,” the sources said, quoting an Indian official as saying at the meeting.

At the inaugural session, Pakistan’s Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood said the talks had an “open agenda” and the two sides would discuss “all the issues” of interest to both countries. “I believe that this meeting will take the dialogue process forward and by the end of the meeting all issues relating to facilitation and promotion of bilateral trade could be addressed with consensus,” he said.

He said improving trade would economically benefit both countries. There was a great scope for increasing the volume of trade, he added.

Indian Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar said trade should be promoted at a much higher pace. “This is a process that was interrupted and that must resume and go on. It must acquire significantly fast momentum if only to catch up for the time that we have lost,” Khullar said.

He said the Indian government was willing to move forward on trade issues, an area where Delhi has been eager to take the dialogue ahead to any extent, even though there being no progress in other areas of concern like Siachen and Kashmir.

Source : dawn.com