Singh seeks to allay Islamabad's fears
ISLAMABAD: Indian Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh has reportedly sought to allay Islamabad's fears that Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to New Delhi will have an adverse impact on Pakistan's indigenous industry, well informed sources in Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Business Recorder.
The Indian premier made these comments at a recent meeting with Senior Commerce Minister, Makhdoom Amin Fahim, in New Delhi, wherein issues of mutual interests especially trade ties between the two countries were discussed.
"India does not want any adverse effect on Pakistan's economy or industry and suggests that instead of delaying the grant of MFN status, both sides may discuss and address the genuine issues and remove these apprehensions for normalization of trade and commerce relations," sources added.
An official, who accompanied the Senior Commerce Minister on his visit to India, stated "if we agree with India on business as usual, how can we deny transit facility to India for Afghanistan which is a longstanding demand of New Delhi and Kabul," the source said. In Pakistan, there are some genuine concerns over Commerce Ministry's "extra-ordinary pace of work that it has employed towards enhancing relations with India. This has been sent in black and white to the Commerce Ministry of Foreign Office," according to the sources.
According to joint press statement issued during the Commerce Minister's visit to India, he agreed to jointly work to more than double bilateral trade within three years from current level of $ 2.7 billion to $ 6 billion.
Trade sector analysts maintain that India has not given any concrete guarantee for removal of trade barriers that Pakistani exporters are facing in India. However, Commerce Secretaries of both the countries will follow the task of fully normalizing bilateral relations.
The sources said both the countries have agreed to cooperate to achieve highly ambitious preferential trade relations under the framework of the South Asia Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA). All mutual obligations contracted under SAFTA will be implemented with full sincerity.
The sources said Commerce Secretaries will lay down specific timelines to normalize all trade relationships including dismantling of all non-tariff barriers when they meet in November 2011 for next round of talks. Commerce Secretaries will prepare a roadmap for greater preferential arrangements between India and Pakistan besides promotion of greater intra-regional connectively though road, rail, shipping and air.
According to sources liberalization of business visa regime will be concluded by November 2011. The new business visa regime would allow multiple entries and could be for a period up to one year.
Both Ministers also agreed that joint and concerted efforts will be made in all areas to create an enabling environment for trade and to encourage greater engagement between the business communities of the two countries.