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The Government is disappointed with Pakistan’s move to defer a decision on extending non-discriminatory market access status to India. This would have ended the on-going stalemate in the trade liberalisation dialogue.
The Nawaz Sharif Government postponed a meeting of its Cabinet scheduled on Friday that was to take up the issue of granting India NDMA status — a move that will result in removing import ban on 1,209 Indian products and open up access through the land route.
“We are disappointed with the postponement. We hope another meeting is convened soon and the issue doesn’t get put off till after India’s elections,” a senior Government official told Business Line .
Pakistan has to ‘unconditionally’ deliver on its promise to grant India NDMA status if the trade liberalisation dialogue is to proceed further, the official said.
With India set to get a new Government in the next two months the Nawaz Sharif Government would now want to strike a trade deal with the new regime, Pakistan’s Information and Broadcasting Minister Pervaiz Rashid was quoted as saying in Pakistani daily Dawn .
The Indo-Pak trade dialogue, which has the potential of increasing bilateral trade from the current $3 billion to an estimated $20 billion, was stalled in January 2013 following violence at the Line of Control in Kashmir.
The Commerce Ministry, which has been steering the trade dialogue process, argues that India has done whatever it was required to do as per the road-map and it is Pakistan’s turn to deliver.
“They have to do their part. The ball is in their court,” Commerce Secretary Rajeev Kher said when asked on the issue.
Kher said that India had committed to take on a reciprocal basis further steps for giving greater market access to Pakistan after NDMA was bestowed. “India will simultaneously or with a time lag do its part, but Pakistan has to deliver now (on NDMA),” the Secretary said.
NDMA is a more politically acceptable term for the Most Favoured Nation status that India had accorded Pakistan way back in 1996 during the World Trade Organisation’s Uruguay Round. It basically means treating a country same as other countries without discrimination.
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