India, Pakistan trade should be top priority: Sayeed
Sunday, January 03, 2010
By By our correspondent
LAHORE: Pakistan would immensely benefit if regional trade among SAARC countries reached the level achieved under other regional trade agreements.
This was stated by SAARC Chamber of Commerce and Industry (SCCI) President Tariq Sayeed while speaking at the Lahore Chamber of Commerce and Industry (LCCI) on Saturday.
Tariq Sayeed said after initial reservations, the private sector was convinced that promotion of trade between India and Pakistan should get priority over all other issues. Poverty in both the countries can only be addressed if free flow of trade and investment in the region was assured, he added.
He said the Indians were also convinced that their dream of becoming a global economic power was closely linked to peace and harmony with its neighbours. He said solution to other issues would follow once trade among the eight SAARC countries was promoted.
He said the tariff issues under SAFTA had been settled and currently the least developed countries of the region had zero-rated access to all SAARC countries.
He said the tariff would come down to zero or a maximum of 0.5 per cent for all SAARC countries by 2016, adding that it would provide a golden opportunity in the form of market access to one-fourth of the global population that lives in the SAARC region.
Tariq Sayeed said non-tariff barriers were still an issue that needed to be addressed. He said even the Indian businessmen, in their interactions at the SAARC meetings, had admitted that there were thousands of non-tariff barriers that discouraged imports into India. He said similar problems existed to a lesser extent in other SAARC countries which should also be resolved.
Talking about Pakistan, Tariq Sayeed said its economy had performed well below its potential. In the sixties, the exports of Pakistan and China were almost at the same level and today Chinese exports had touched the staggering figure of $1.3 trillion while we are still struggling to achieve the target of $20 billion, he added.
He said the federal government had allowed the FPCCI to establish a desk at the Islamabad International Airport to receive foreign businessmen in a proper manner and added that permission to establish similar desks at all international airports would also be sought.
He said work on the construction of SCCI headquarters in Islamabad would start this year. He asked the LCCI to book office space in the same building as a similar offer was being extended to all the chambers.
Earlier, giving a detailed presentation on the water situation in Pakistan prepared by former LCCI vice president Shahzad Ali Malik, he said India was systematically depriving Pakistan of its due share of water by building dams and water generation projects illegally.
Tariq Sayeed said this was an issue between India, Pakistan and the World Bank, adding the Government of Pakistan had already taken up the issue with the WB authorities, he added.
Speaking on the occasion, LCCI President Zafar Iqbal Chaudhry said in todays globalised world, trade and business had crossed national borders, making them increasingly irrelevant.
While regional entities like ASEAN had forged ahead and regional cooperation had become part of the political and economic landscape, we continue to lag behind, he added.
He said despite all the rhetoric of regional trade, the countries of the region still had a long way to go. Sectors like automobiles, pharmaceuticals, light engineering, plastic products and agriculture should be protected and encouraged, he added.
