Bansal questions Pakistan's action on tariff concessions for India

Islamabad, July 11 (UNI) Union Minister of State for Finance Pawan Kumar Bansal today described Pakistan's decision to limit SAFTA tariff concessions for India as going against the very essence of the agreement.

''South Asian Free Trade Agreement (SAFTA) operates on the basis of the agreed sensitive lists and has little operating meaning if commitments are not honoured in letter and spirit,'' Mr Bansal told the first meeting of the SAARC Finance Ministers here.

Pakistan has rebutted India's allegation of not granting it Most-Favoured Nation (MFN) status under SAFTA, saying the issue had nothing to do with the agreement.

A statement issued by Pakistan's Commerce Ministry here last week said SATFA did not contain any provision that trade relations between the two countries would function on MFN basis with its ratification.

Pakistan's Commerce Ministry said if India intended to move the dispute settlement process under SAFTA , it was prepared to counter the challenge in accordance with the provisions of the agreement.

''We are surprised to see Pakistan government's notification regarding tariff concessions under SAFTA for SAARC member states,'' Mr Bansal said and added the last qualification refers to the import policy order of July 21, 2005, which limits SAFTA tariff concession for India only to items on the existing bilateral positive list.

He said the credibility of participating member countries in SAFTA itself would be seriously questioned if additional conditionalities were introduced that were neither discussed nor agreed to when SAFTA was being finalised.

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