Pak Minister blames Foreign Ministries for impasse in trade talks

Pakistan’s Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir Khan has blamed the Foreign Ministries of India and Pakistan for the current stalemate in trade talks.

He was, however, optimistic that talks would resume soon and Pakistan would be able to deliver on the promise of removing all bans on Indian exports and further opening up of the land route.

“When you are talking trade, you can go to a certain extent, but then trade talks hit a wall when other Ministries get involved,” the Minister told reporters at the ‘India Show', jointly organised by industry chamber FICCI and India’s Commerce Ministry.

When asked to name the Ministries, Khan said it was the Foreign Ministries that refused to resume the Composite Dialogue for improving bilateral relations. The Composite Dialogue was suspended last January following violence at the Line of Control.

On a lighter note, Khan said, “Today is Valentine’s Day. Instead of giving each other messages of love, the two Foreign Ministries are not even resuming the Composite Dialogue”.

No pre-conditions The Minister specified that there were no pre-conditions to resuming the trade dialogue.

India’s Commerce Ministry had written to the Pakistan Government demanding that the country should specify by when it planned to offer it non-discriminatory market access before talks could proceed. It said that a timeline should also be given for allowing trade of all goods through the Wagah border. The Commerce Ministry faced pressure from the Foreign Ministry, which argued that there was no point in further talks on trade till Pakistan delivered on its promises. It has been reported that Commerce Minister Anand Sharma had to cancel his visit to Lahore for inaugurating the ‘India Show’, as the Foreign Ministry was not keen on it.

India and Pakistan started negotiations for liberalising bilateral trade in February 2012, following which both sides took steps to open up their markets. Pakistan, which allowed only about 2,000 items to be exported from India, now allows more than 6,000 goods. Export ban, however, continues on about 1,000 items, which it had promised to dismantle by December last year.

Land route Pakistan also needs to deliver on its promise for allowing Indian goods through the land route. At present, most items from India have to be exported by the sea route via Mumbai and Karachi, which is very expensive.

Khan also stressed on the need for a more liberal visa regime to boost trade. “We may keep talking about tariff and customs barriers, but till business people are allowed to travel freely, they would not be able to see for themselves what opportunities they can exploit,” he said.

Bilateral trade between India and Pakistan is pegged at around $3 billion, with Pakistan exporting less than $1 billion. Commerce Joint Secretary Arvind Mehta, however, pointed out that Pakistan’s exports to India had doubled in the last three years, which augured well for the future.

COMMENT NOW