NTBs to trade within SAARC region to go in six months, says Pak commerce secy
Tuesday, 27 November 2007
Pakistan Commerce Secretary Syed Asif Shah said in the city Monday the non-tariff barriers (NTBs) to trade within the SAARC region would go in the next six months, reports UNB.
"I'm hopeful about removing all the NTBs or those would substantially be reduced within the six months," he told the local business leaders.
He aired the high hope, consistent with the desire by the business community of the region, on the developments made at the 13th meeting of SAARC Committee on Economic Cooperation (CEC) concluded in the city Sunday.
Commerce secretaries from the SAARC countries led their respective delegations at the two-day CEC meeting at a city hotel.
The CEC meeting instructed the SAFTA sub-group on non-tariff and para-tariff measures (NTMs/PTMs) to identify the barriers and make recommendation to the SAFTA committee of experts (CoE) for their elimination or mitigation. The next sub-group meeting will be held in Kathmandu on January 7-8 next year.
The local business leaders, led by FBCCI President Mir Nasir Hossain, brought forward the tariff and non-tariff barriers within the region as they put forward their recommendations to boost regional and Bangladesh-Pakistan bilateral trades.
They also raised the mindset problem within the region, particularly between India and other members of the regional group, which hindered enhancing the regional as well as bilateral trades.
"I don't feel India is a hindrance. Things are improving now," Pakistan Commerce Secretary Asif said in response to the business community's concern.
About Pakistan's NTBs, he said he would like to know what problems Bangladesh exports were facing from Pakistan and gave assurance of removing them.
He stressed the need for bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) to facilitate the review of Pakistan's sensitive list of products. "We re-committed to the FTA because there're so many advantages for our two countries," he said.
About direct shipping link between the two countries, Asif said he would purse it when he went back home.
Addressing the meeting, FBCCI President Mir Nasir said the tariff has to be lesser than that of SAFTA and a special and differential treatment should be given to Bangladesh in line with the WTO rules to make the FTA meaningful.
He also recommended reducing the negative list of products in a pragmatic way, simplifying the rules of origin and time-bound commitment of reducing tariff and removing NTBs.
"No FTA can be successful without bilateral investment promotion," he told the meeting, inviting Pakistan to invest in Bangladesh, particularly in its textile sector, to tap the benefits of Bangladesh's duty-free access to the markets of developed countries.
FBCCI Director Aftab-ul Islam pointed out the problem of mindset as the main reason why the things were not moving. "It's not a multilateral problem, it's a bilateral problem," he said, "All the countries have problem with India."
Bangladesh suffers a trade deficit of US$ 134 million with Pakistan with its exports worth US$ 61 million and imports of US$ 195 million in 2006-07.
Bangladesh's major export items are raw jute, chemical fertiliser and tea while its major imports from Pakistan include textile and textile articles, machinery and equipment, plastic articles, chemical products and vegetable products.
"I'm hopeful about removing all the NTBs or those would substantially be reduced within the six months," he told the local business leaders.
He aired the high hope, consistent with the desire by the business community of the region, on the developments made at the 13th meeting of SAARC Committee on Economic Cooperation (CEC) concluded in the city Sunday.
Commerce secretaries from the SAARC countries led their respective delegations at the two-day CEC meeting at a city hotel.
The CEC meeting instructed the SAFTA sub-group on non-tariff and para-tariff measures (NTMs/PTMs) to identify the barriers and make recommendation to the SAFTA committee of experts (CoE) for their elimination or mitigation. The next sub-group meeting will be held in Kathmandu on January 7-8 next year.
The local business leaders, led by FBCCI President Mir Nasir Hossain, brought forward the tariff and non-tariff barriers within the region as they put forward their recommendations to boost regional and Bangladesh-Pakistan bilateral trades.
They also raised the mindset problem within the region, particularly between India and other members of the regional group, which hindered enhancing the regional as well as bilateral trades.
"I don't feel India is a hindrance. Things are improving now," Pakistan Commerce Secretary Asif said in response to the business community's concern.
About Pakistan's NTBs, he said he would like to know what problems Bangladesh exports were facing from Pakistan and gave assurance of removing them.
He stressed the need for bilateral free trade agreement (FTA) to facilitate the review of Pakistan's sensitive list of products. "We re-committed to the FTA because there're so many advantages for our two countries," he said.
About direct shipping link between the two countries, Asif said he would purse it when he went back home.
Addressing the meeting, FBCCI President Mir Nasir said the tariff has to be lesser than that of SAFTA and a special and differential treatment should be given to Bangladesh in line with the WTO rules to make the FTA meaningful.
He also recommended reducing the negative list of products in a pragmatic way, simplifying the rules of origin and time-bound commitment of reducing tariff and removing NTBs.
"No FTA can be successful without bilateral investment promotion," he told the meeting, inviting Pakistan to invest in Bangladesh, particularly in its textile sector, to tap the benefits of Bangladesh's duty-free access to the markets of developed countries.
FBCCI Director Aftab-ul Islam pointed out the problem of mindset as the main reason why the things were not moving. "It's not a multilateral problem, it's a bilateral problem," he said, "All the countries have problem with India."
Bangladesh suffers a trade deficit of US$ 134 million with Pakistan with its exports worth US$ 61 million and imports of US$ 195 million in 2006-07.
Bangladesh's major export items are raw jute, chemical fertiliser and tea while its major imports from Pakistan include textile and textile articles, machinery and equipment, plastic articles, chemical products and vegetable products.