ISLAMABAD, 22 November 2004 — Pakistan yesterday added 81 items to a list of goods that can be imported from India with a reduced tariff. The announcement came two days before Prime Minister Shaukat Aziz visits India for wide-ranging talks.
“Most of the new items now being included in the positive list are in the nature of raw material required by the local industry,” a statement by the Ministry of Commerce said.
The statement did not say what the new tariff would be for the 81 goods, which range from walnuts, to raw material for medicines to meat.
Pakistan and India, who share a history of bitter relations, agreed to give concessions to certain imports from each country after negotiations last year under the South Asian Preferential Trade Agreement, which aims to promote trade among members of a regional bloc.
The seven-member regional grouping — South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation — includes Pakistan, India, Bangladesh, Sri Lanka, Nepal, Bhutan and the Maldives. At a meeting at the SAARC secretariat in Katmandu last December, Indian and Pakistani officials agreed to reduce duties by 10 to 25 percent on a list of some 500 products.
Pakistan’s positive list for India — with goods that are allowed to be imported from India — now has 768 items, up from 687, the ministry said.
The announcement by Pakistan came the same day that Aziz arrived in Sri Lanka as part of a regional tour that will also take him to India and the Maldives.
Aziz will travel to India on Tuesday for talks with his Indian counterpart Manmohan Singh and other Indian officials amid ongoing efforts by the countries to develop peaceful relations.
Pakistan and India remain in dispute over Kashmir, a Himalayan region divided between them but claimed by each in its entirety. They have fought two wars over Kashmir since their independence from British rule in 1947.
Aziz was making the tour as chairman of SAARC. He visited Bangladesh, Nepal and Bhutan earlier this month.
Foreign Minister Khurshid Mahmood Kasuri said yesterday that some positive indications had been received from India on initiating a Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service. Kasuri told a South Asia Free Media conference here that the dialogue process between Pakistan and India was under way and neither of the countries could compel the other to accept its will by force. He said he had received positive indications in respect of the Srinagar-Muzaffarabad bus service.
He said: “We cannot move forward without taking along the Kashmiris and it is only the people of Kashmir who can pressure the two countries to establish peace.”
Kasuri said the construction of a gas pipeline from Iran to India through Pakistan could be instrumental in building confidence between the two countries.
On Oct. 22, 2003 India proposed starting the bus service. Pakistan responded positively a week later, but asked for UN documents for travelers. The Indian government rejected Pakistan’s proposal. Later, Pakistani Prime Minister Mir Zafarullah Khan Jamali again announced a bus service but did not mention UN documents. Moderate Kashmiri politicians such as Mufti Mohammed Sayeed and Farooq Abdullah have also opposed the idea of passports to identify passengers.
— Additional input from agencies
