Pakistan has said it will allow imports of all items from India once the on-going election process in the country is over and New Delhi is in a position to implement the "arrangement'' of reducing subsidies on some items of export interest to Pakistan.
"Early this year, both the countries had agreed on an arrangement under which India would reduce subsidies on items that can be exported by Pakistan. But it could not be implemented as the model code of conduct came into play," Pakistan High Commissioner to India Abdul Basit said in an interaction with women journalists on Wednesday.
Basit said that once the new Government is in place in India, the whole issue could be reconsidered.
Extending India non-discriminatory market access, which basically means allowing all Indian items to be sold in Pakistan, is a key condition that New Delhi has laid down before Islamabad for re-starting the bilateral trade dialogue that has been stalled for the past year.
Although Pakistan has opened its doors to over 85 per cent of items to be exported from India, it still disallows 1,209 items such as automobiles, many pharmaceutical products, agricultural produce and textile items such as polyester.
India, on the other hand, allows import of all items from its neighbour, but Pakistan alleges that there were a number of non tariff barriers that impeded imports.
"There are four sectors in Pakistan, which includes pharmaceuticals, agriculture, automobile and textiles which are apprehensive about competing with India," the High Commissioner said.
More opportunity
India needs to reassure Pakistan’s industry that there would be more opportunity for them for doing business in the country by removing some domestic subsidies and giving it a more level playing field, he added.
Islamabad had promised to do away with all import bans by December 31, 2013. It had also promised that it would allow trade of all products through the land route, instead of the expensive sea-route.
Source:- thehindubusinessline.com
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