India Links Imports To Pakistan Most Favoured Nation Status.

NEW DELHI: India is walking the extra mile to ensure that a trade deal with Pakistan is worked out at the earliest. New Delhi has indicated that it will offer preferential access to textiles and other goods from across the border if Pakistan granted most favoured nation (MFN) status and initiated steps to boost imports from India.

Sources said that India may look at allowing the entry of textiles and other goods from Pakistan at concessional or zero duty to boost trade relations. The package could be similar to the one that has been offered to Bangladesh, they said.

While it is hopeful of a positive signal from Pakistan when the commerce secretaries meet between November 14 and 18, India wants Pakistan to not just move from a system of a positive list to negative list. Instead, it has suggested that Pakistan follow the Safta principle of trade through a small sensitive list of items, which should be pruned over time.

A meeting of commerce ministers is, however, expected to take place around February on the sidelines of the Safta meeting in Islamabad.

Last week, Pakistan foreign minister Hina Rabbani Khar indicating that MFN status for India, a long-pending issue, was on its way. Officials said that the positive signals pointed towards a commitment from both the sides to keep trade on a separate negotiating track to improve ties.

Although Khar and others have raised concerns over non-tariff barriers faced by Pakistani exporters, officials said that India has tried to convey to Islamabad that goods would face the same safety standards as those imposed on other countries, including Made-in-India products. Pakistan has said that India uses non-tariff barriers such as safety standards for cement, textiles and surgical instruments. "If the cement meets the prescribed norms, or textiles products do not contain dyes that are banned then there is no question of denying entry into India. We have conveyed this to Pakistan," an official said.

Apart from MFN, progress has also been made on electricity trade, where officials from both sides started talks on Thursday. Similarly, during a meeting of home ministry officials, the issue of relaxed norms for business visas is expected to be finalized. If the deal fructifies, multiple entry visas of longer duration and with permission to visit multiple cities would be issued.

Source : economictimes.indiatimes.com