Pakistani industry supports India’s stand on WTO

Neha Dewan | @TheDollarBiz     India’s stand that it will first ensure a commitment by members of the World Trade Organisation (WTO) over government food subsidy programs before allowing a consensus on the Trade Facilitation Agreement (TFA) has got support from unexpected quarters. Syed Yawar Ali, Pakistan Co-Chair for India Pakistan Joint Business Forum (IPJBF), said in a conference in New Delhi that he supports India’s efforts to protect farmers’ interest in the WTO. “There are atleast 60% people in agriculture sector [in India], and USA and EU have only 2%, but yet they protect them very vigorously. So I would support India’s WTO effort here,” Ali said. Ali is also hopeful that Islamabad will soon grant the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India, a move which is expected to boost bilateral trade significantly. “All formalities have been completed. And it’s only a question of time now. However, the position will be clearer after the two foreign secretaries meet,” Ali said. India had granted the MFN status to Pakistan in 1996 but Pakistan is yet to reciprocate due to opposition from some sectors at home. When asked on expectations from the new government, Ali said that the sentiments were strong. “It’s too early right now to say anything. But the desire to enhance economic relations has been expressed by both sides. We have a lot of expectations from the new Modi government.” A range of issues came up for discussion at the meet, including participation in auto and engineering sectors, textile industry and SMEs. “There will be active participation in the auto and engineering sectors. We have to protect investments in Pakistan, we are much smaller than the auto component industry in India,” said Pakistan Business Council Chairman Sikander Mustafa Khan. However, Khan added that the taskforce on the sector is trying to identify a list of items that can be removed from the negative list to enable India to export these products. “We will review the list in the next two months. We will identify those products,” he said. The IPJBF has set up task forces on various sectors, including agriculture, SMEs, automobiles, engineering and IT. Setting up new banks to help money flow on both sides is also on the anvil. Indian co-chair of IPJBF, Sunil Kant Munjal, expressed hope that trade related issues would be resolved and trade ties further strengthened. He suggested that multiple entry business visas with validity of one year need to be issued to businessmen to foster bilateral trade between the two countries. He urged that restrictions on entry and exit points should be avoided to help trade flow. Trade potential between India and Pakistan is high. According to India’s Ministry of Commerce, bilateral trade between India and Pakistan stood at around $2.7 billion in FY2013-14, compared to around $6.5 billion between India and Bangladesh.