India, Pak Commerce Ministers to meet in New Delhi next month

From Rezaul H Laskar
Islamabad, Aug 7 (PTI) The Commerce Ministers of India
and Pakistan will meet after a gap of over three years in New
Delhi next month to discuss ways to boost trade and proposals
to remove non-tariff barriers as the two countries make
efforts to normalise relations.
Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma has invited his
Pakistani counterpart Makhdoom Amin Fahim, a senior leader of
the ruling Pakistan People's Party, to visit New Delhi for the
meeting.
The meeting will be a follow-up to talks in Islamabad in
April between the Commerce Secretaries of the two sides.
During those parleys, Pakistan agreed to take steps to
implement a non-discriminatory trade regime with India and the
two sides said they would work on steps to boost trade in
electricity and petroleum products as part of efforts to use
economic engagement to build trust.
Indian officials told PTI that Pakistan had, in essence,
agreed to extend the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to
India by putting in place a non-discriminatory trade regime
"at the earliest".
However, the Pakistani side has indicated that granting
MFN status to India would be linked to the removal of what
Islamabad describes as "non-tariff barriers".
The Indian officials clarified that these "non-tariff
barriers", including laboratory tests for textiles and
standards for cement, are not Pakistan-specific and apply to
all of India's trade partners.
During his meeting with Sharma, Fahim is also expected to
urge India to end its opposition to the European Union's
preferential trade package offered to Pakistan in the
aftermath of last year's devastating floods.
ADE 2LAST
Pakistan is optimistic of "getting a positive response
from India on the issue of the EU trade package and the
removal of non-tariff barriers", the Dawn newspaper quoted a
source as saying.
"In case of a positive move, the case of granting India
the MFN status would become easier," the source said.
The issue of granting MFN status to India would be
considered by Pakistan in October, the daily reported.
Matters related to the opening of a new check point at
the Wagah land border crossing for trade and commercial
activities too are expected to be taken up at the meeting of
the Commerce Ministers.
Following the rapid growth of trade via Wagah, the Indian
government has built a new Integrated Check Post (ICP) at a
cost of over Rs 100 crore on its side of the border. The ICP
is expected to become operational in October.
There is currently only one entry and exit point on the
Wagah border for crossing by people and trade.
This point experiences heavy traffic and crowding due to
the parade held every evening.
The new ICP will have facilities like a passenger
terminal, currency exchange, internet connectivity, cargo
processing, warehouse and cold storage, quarantine laboratory,
banks and other public utilities.