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MFN status will bridge the Indo-Pak gap: Indian minister

Dunya News

Indian Federal Commerce Minister said the move will help to strengthen bilateral trade ties.

Indias Commerce Minister, Anand Sharma, said that after Pakistan accorded the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India by the end of this year, trade relations between the two countries would strengthen. He said this while addressing mediapersons on Tuesday (April 10) in Palampur of Indias northern Himachal Pradesh state.Recently, the proposed Integrated Check Post (ICP) in Atari of Indias northern Punjab state was a subject of discussion, as Pakistan had notified its negative list for the country, which allows the import of only 137 items through the Wagah-Atari route, instead of the 2,000 odd items mentioned earlier.According to media reports, a Pakistani delegation would arrive in New Delhi on April 13 to discuss a series of issues, including electricity trade and preferential access for Pakistani products such as cement and textiles.According to media reports, the traders claimed that out of the 137 items, most of them are already exported through the Wagah border. The items include livestock, carcasses, meat, vegetables, pineapple, pepper, newsprint, cement and yarn.In case of Pakistan, last September, Pakistans minister for Commerce and Industry, the senior federal minister, Minister Makhdoom Fahim had come to Delhi. There we had reached an understanding to deepen the economic engagement to open up the possibility of land transit with Pakistan moving to a negative list regime, which is an effective step to move towards the MFN (Most Favoured Nation) status. Now, I must say that MFN is a terminology, which is used in the WTO, the World Trade Organisation, he said.India exported goods worth $2.33 billion to Pakistan last year while its imports were $330 million. Dismantling trade hurdles will increase official trade between the two countries to cross $6 billion by 2014.The trade, limited to 21 items, is small, hampered by the fact that it has to be done through a barter system because the two governments cannot reconcile themselves to accepting the others currency.While India granted Pakistan MFN status in 1996, Pakistan hesitated.Pakistani officials want New Delhi to remove non-trade barriers against Pakistan goods and they complained that Indian quality standards and customs procedures have hindered the flow of Pakistani goods into India.Meanwhile, commenting on the response by several states at the time of proposal of FDI in retail sector, Sharma added that the government had planned to formulate a policy, keeping in mind the interests of several bodies.He added that they would ensure that 50 percent of the investment would be used for the development of rural infrastructure.The policy that that we had put in place or put together was based on the inputs from all stakeholders, including farmer bodies, consumer organisations, industry associations, community organisations and other institutions, which have done the domain work or research. The Cabinet has taken a decision. Indias policy has a distinct Indian signature, which factors in the socio-economic realities of our country. We have made it mandatory that 50 percent of the investment must go in the rural infrastructure, he said.In December 2011, the government suspended plans to open Indias $450 billion supermarket sector to foreign firms, backtracking from one of its boldest reforms in years.Meanwhile, Sharma rebutted Chief Minister of Indias western Gujarat state, Narendra Modis claim and clarified that the federal government had not imposed any tax on cotton.Recently, Modi had made a statement that the government was taxing export of cotton, while providing subsidy on meat exports.Sharma took a jibe at Modi, stating that he should verify facts and then make such comments on public policies.What India exports is bovine meat. Bovine meat is actually buffalo meat, so theres a difference between a cow and a buffalo, Narendra Modi should know and not mislead. Second thing, when there is no such export, even for the meat exports or poultry exports, India does not give any subsidy for meat exports, not even one paisa has ever been given. It would have been better for the Chief Minister of a large state to be responsible and restrained in making a comment on public policy, had he checked his facts or asked my ministry, he would have been better informed, he said.He concluded that such policies must not be viewed from a political perspective.
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