Islamabad - Federal Commerce Minister Khurram Dastgir on Friday said that trade restrictions against India for its repeated ceasefire violations along the Line of Control (LoC) would be a “counterproductive retaliatory measure”.
“The government is ready to do so but in the given situation it is not in Pakistan’s national interest”, the minister told Senate while responding to a call attention notice by Senator Saleem Mandviwalla.
Senator Mandviwalla contended that despite repeated ceasefire violations on the LoC by Indian troops, the government has been reluctant to use trade as a counterbalancing measure against Indian actions.
He said that it looks like everything has been going normal with India as a hefty amount of two to three billion dollars are going to India from Pakistan under the garb of trade.
Responding to the concerns raised by the PPP senator, the commerce minister said that Pakistan armed forces have been giving a befitting response to India over the ceasefire violations. The fact remains that Pakistan’s bilateral trade amounting to $2.08 billion is 0.4 percent of India’s global trade. Hence trade restrictions on India will have a minimal impact even if the government uses it at a point of time as a retaliatory measure,” Dastgir said.
He explained that India’s exports to Pakistan amounted to $1.78 billion and is 0.8 percent of India’s global exports.
On the other hand, the minister said that Pakistan’s exports to India stand at $3.3058 million and imports from India were largely related to raw materials and if the government applied trade as a retaliatory measure could harm some of the key industries in Pakistan.
He said the imports from India were largely coming to Pakistan through the sea, whereas only 138 items from India are allowed through the Wagah border.
Earlier, the commerce minister told the Senate that Pakistan being a member of the World Trade Organization (WTO) has extended Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to all WTO member countries except for India and Israel.
Replying to a question, he said that there was a total of 164 members of WTO and since 2006, 14 new members have joined it. Hence, he said, Pakistan has granted MFN status to 14 countries in the last 10 years.
The MFN status is granted by all the WTO member states at moment of an accession, he said, and added, therefore 14 new member states to WTO have granted MFN status to Pakistan in the last 10 years.
Under the WTO agreements- General Agreement on Tariffs and Trade (GATT), General Agreement on Trade in Services (GATS) and the Agreement on Trade-Related Aspects of Intellectual Property Rights (TRIPS)-countries cannot normally discriminate between their trading partners, he said. This principle, the minister said, was known MFN treatment.
Dastgir said that the purpose of granting the MFN status to WTO members was to bring uniformity and predictability to international trade and to remove a barrier to trade through reduction of tariffs and eliminating of discriminatory NTBs.
It also aimed at to provide level playing field to foreign producers at par with the local producers to ensure efficient production for consumers, he added.
READY FOR TALKS BUT ENSURE
PEACEFUL ATMOSPHERE: INDIA
Monitoring Desk adds: India on Friday insisted that it has never refused for talks with Pakistan while stating that it is the Asian neighbour which has to ensure a peaceful atmosphere for the same. “We have never refused talks, but Pakistan has to ensure a peaceful atmosphere. Pakistan should create a healthy atmosphere for talks,” Ministry of External Affairs (MEA) official spokesperson Vikas Swarup said in a weekly press briefing in New Delhi.
“We are repeatedly seeing that there is cross-border firing at the LoC, there are terrorist attacks. Every other day, there are instances of infiltration. They are attacking our soldiers,” he added.
The MEA spokesperson further insisted that in such a situation and atmosphere, no fruitful talks can take place between the hostile neighbours. “In such a situation, how can we have fruitful talks with Pakistan? It is Pakistan which has to ensure that there are suitable conditions for bilateral talks,” he said.
“It should create an atmosphere where they don’t take the help of violence and terrorism. And then we are ready for talks with Pakistan on any issue,” he added.