PESHAWAR, April 4: Speakers at a seminar on Wednesday supported the grant of most favoured nation (MFN) status to India but urged the government to consult all stakeholders on it.
Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) organised the seminar on ‘Trade normalisation between Pakistan and India’ in collaboration with Sarhad Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) here at the chamber.
Former Pakistani ambassador to World Trade Organisation (WTO) Dr Manzoor Ahmad educated participants on why Pakistan should have trade with India, what are its benefits and why these trade ties should be normalised and expanded.
He said Pakistan was mostly trading with the European Union and the US and that its trade was growing but in a wrong manner.
He said smaller economies should do trade with bigger economies for their growth like Turkey and Mexico and suggested an increase in Pakistani exports.
Dr Manzoor said all WTO members were bound to give MFN status to their neighbours and if they didn’t, then they would be breaching WTO agreement.
SCCI senior vice-president Ziaul Haq Sarhadi said Pakistan would have to better its relations with its neighbours to promote trade.
He said Khyber Pakhtunkhwa was an important province and therefore, Peshawar dry port running temporarily needed to be modernised for better exports. He said exports had badly suffered due to poor condition of railways.
Dr Sarhadi said the dry port was temporally established in 1986 and had been so since and therefore, efforts should be made to set up a dry port trust in Azakhel near Peshawar. He said railways could earn from Rs15 billion to Rs20 billion by running goods trains.
Regarding Afghan transit trade, he said the province would not benefit from the new agreement as it had rendered a large number of people unemployed. He said amended agreement would have negative impact on local economy.
Mr Sarhadi said the decision by Pakistan to give India MFN status was a welcome step but the government must take all stakeholders into confidence before implementing its decision and make a negative list of items. He said the government would have to put pressure on India to remove non-tariff barriers.
He said TDAP was not playing an effective role due to which exporters in the province had problems. He demanded the government include businessmen in TDAP foreign delegations.
TDAP Director General Tariq Pervez underlined the need for exchange of delegations and exhibitions, saying the authority was shortly holding an exhibition in New Delhi. He said businessmen from Pakistan and India should hold meetings to help normalise trade ties between the two countries. He said the agency would fully cooperate with women entrepreneurs as its mission was to educate exporters.
Noted among others in attendance were SCCI vice-president Abid Salam, former SCCI president Ghazanfar Bilour, Women Chamber of Commerce and Industry president Sajida Zulfiqar, vice-president Nasira Lughmani and others. http://www.dawn.com/2012/04/05/mfn-status-for-india-kp-businessmen-want-govt-to-consult-them.html
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