India, Pakistan start trade talks in Islamabad

Islamabad, Mar 27: India and Pakistan today (Mar 27, 2006) began secretary-level talks here with the issues like non-trade barriers and operationalising the South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) set to dominate the deliberations.

The India-Pakistan Joint Work, comprising Commerce Secretary S N Menon and his Pakistan counter Syed Asif Shah, in their three-day talks, would discuss threadbare the difficult issues blocking the official trade between the two countries.

The discussions also take on board Pakistan's willingness to discuss the ways and means to operationalise the SAFTA which, in principle, has started from January 1 this year.

The talks, being held as a part of the ongoing Composite Dialogue, will discuss measures to improve trade facilitation, including tariff and non-tariff barriers and cooperation in areas of smoothening customs laws and procedures, official sources said here.

However, it is clear that Pakistan is still not ready to give the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) treatment to India on the apprehension that the Indian goods could flood the Pakistani market.

UNI