Inputs for leather bags, footwear from India in Pakistan’s import list

Leather News by JosephVackayil 2 yrs ago

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The Pakistan government has approved to add over 18 items to the tradable list of goods

that can be imported from India. They include: printed books, newsprint, empty aluminium

alloy milk cans, accessories for leather bags and footwear, jigs and dyes for vehicles,

polymers, Lufenuron chemical for the pharmaceutical sector, cotton linter, fungicides and

other chemicals for theleather industry agency reports from Islamabad say.

The list of items would be sent to the Economic Coordination Committee of the federal

cabinet for approval, sources said.

The Prime Minister had approved the list that includes mostly machinery and raw material for

industries.

The list was framed in consultation with the ministry of industries and production.

Indian officials pointed out, however, that Pakistan was required to move from the antiquated

“positive list” system to the “negative list” regime under the provisions of the World Trade

Organization and the South Asian Free Trade Area agreement.

An addition of 18 items to a list of less than 2,000 tradable means very little, the officials

pointed out. During the last round of talks between the Commerce Secretaries of the two

countries, the Pakistani side had indicated it would grant ‘’Most Favoured Nation’’ status to

India by the end of the year and begin moving to a “negative list” regime.

The officials explained that a “negative list” regime would boost trade as it would include only

a small list of items that could not be traded and open up the export and import of about

8,000 items.

Now a total of 1,960 items can be imported from India. During 1979-1986, Pakistan added

42 items to the tradable list for India. In subsequent years, more additions were made to the

list, including 249 items in 1988-89, 328 in 1989-2000, and 438 in 2008.

Pakistan has linked the move to change its decades-old trade system from a restricted

regime to an open one, including MFN status for India, to the removal of what it describes as

“non-tariff barriers”..