Pakistan has decided to improve the trade relationship with India by the end of the year. What would be the pros and cons of that?
On the one side Rahman Malik claims that India is behind the insurgency in Balochistan, Kashmir issue is there, the water issue is there and the government wants to have normal relations with them.
Considering the record load shedding of electricity and gas, and with the costs of raw material increasing in Pakistan, how can Pakistani industry compete with Indian industry in an open trade? The Indians have given Pakistan a ‘so called’ MFN status for the past many years but we also know about the Non tarrif barriers that have been imposed on Pakistani imports to protect their industry.
What could be the consequences of this normalization of trade with India?
Pakistan decides to normalise trade with India by year’s end
**ISLAMABAD: The government says it will normalise trade with neighbouring India by the end of 2012.
**The Cabinet made the decision in a meeting Tuesday presided over by Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani, unanimously approving the phasing out by December 2012 of a ‘negative list’ of trade items between Pakistan and India.
**A government statement says Pakistan would phase out restrictions on all imports from India by December 2012, part of a commitment it made last year to liberalise trade with New Delhi.
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It says “after that, the process of trade normalization between the two countries would be completed.”
Pakistan’s moves to liberalize trade with India have triggered opposition by Islamist parties and some domestic trade groups worried about greater competition. But the decision indicates Islamabad’s resolve to push ahead with the normalization.
I have always supported free trade agreement with India, Sirilanka and Bengladesh. It is very much in the interest of Pakistan. Unless army made up its mind, this is not going to happen.