PPMA opposes granting MFN status to India

Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) has expressed strong reservations over the government plan to give Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, saying that the plan, if materialised, would cause harm to the local pharmaceutical industry.
Pakistan Pharmaceutical Manufacturers Association (PPMA) Chairman, Mian Asad Shuja Rehman said that Indian pharmaceutical industry does not manufacture pure medicines. Though Indian medicines are cheaper but these 'are of low standard and their quality is not up to the mark', he added.
According to him, the local pharmaceutical industry is the number one sector in the area of export and huge investment is made in the industry. Our industry is rapidly growing across the world due to better quality of products, he maintained. He further said that pharma industry is providing millions of jobs and supplying medicines to local and internationally markets. After 18th constitutional amendment, no steps have so far been taken for the promotion of pharma industry. He urged the governments to take immediate steps for the execution of Drug Regulatory Authority and all matters pertaining to pharma industry should be resolved.
Convenor LCCI Standing Committee on Pharmaceutical, Khawaja Shahzeb Akram said that local pharma industry is fetching precious forex due to export of medicines. Pakistan's pharma industry is rapidly growing across the world due to better quality of medicines and the import of Indian medicines would cause harm to the local industry.
It may be noted that Commerce Minister Makhdoom Amin Fahim has already said that Pakistan would have no objection on granting Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India and a breakthrough on giving MFN status to India is expected in the upcoming secretary level talks between the two countries. During recent visit of Pakistan's Commerce Minister to India, Indian Commerce Minister had expressed the resolve to increase the bilateral trade between the two countries from two billion dollars to six billion dollars.
A high-powered Indian trade delegation of 200 people representing various sectors of the economy will be visiting Pakistan in February 2012 in pursuance of the initiatives taken by both the countries in the public and private sector level to increase bilateral trade. Indian Commerce Minister will lead this delegation under the umbrella of Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI). The delegation will also include some popular figures of Bollywood, sources in the Federation of Pakistan Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FPCCI) said.
According to them, there are some trade issues between Pakistan and India ie issuance of multiple visa for Pakistan's bonafide businessmen for at-least one year, end to non-tariff barriers for Pakistani goods destined to Indian markets, giving the status of MFN to India, implementation of South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) wherein Pakistan is to end the negative list except a few classified items.
After giving MFN status to India, the status of negative and positive lists for trade with India would be deleted. At present, Pakistan has given access to 1,940 product lines on its positive list and has 12,000 on the negative list. The barriers in trade between the two countries are mostly concerned with the infrastructure issues at points of entry, bureaucratic and administrative mishandling, psychological barriers emanating from bilateral political issues, visa restrictions and surveillance of visitors to India, banking restrictions, investment restrictions and restrictive trade routes, which constitute the real Pakistan specific non-tariff barriers.
The lack of banking facility is another major hurdle in the way of increasing trade between the two countries. Currently there is no direct banking arrangement between the two countries. The payments are made either by informal channels or through an international bank using third country banking channels. This increases costs due to additional service charges and longer time is consumed on such transactions, they said.