India agrees to duty-free Pakistani exports to EU: Report
Saturday September 10, 2011 06:34:02 PM,
IANS
|
Islamabad: India has
agreed to drop its objection at the World Trade Organisation (WTO)
against the European Union's decision to allow duty-free access to
75 Pakistani products, a media report said Saturday.
India had raised objection against the EU's decision, fearing it
might hurt India's exports to the 27-member block.
Pakistan's foreign and commerce ministries had sought help from
Federation of Indian Chamber of Commerce and Industry (FICCI)
secretary general Rajiv Kumar, who assured to take up the matter
with Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh.
Pakistani High Commissioner to India Shahid Malik has been
informed that Manmohan Singh has agreed to withdraw India's
objection at the WTO's forthcoming meeting in October, the Daily
Times reported.
A formal announcement was expected at the forthcoming meeting of
the commerce ministers of the two countries in New Delhi Sep
28-29.
The duty-free exports of textile and leather products from
Pakistan will benefit EU countries as they will get the finest
products at the cheapest price in the world, the web news portal
said.
The EU has exempted Pakistan's leading value-added textile and
leather products from custom duty for the next three years.
It will benefit 65 textile products, excluding bed linen. Four out
of 10 EU imports in that category already come from Pakistan,
heading the exemption list, which also includes six lines of
leather goods and three of footwear.
"Though the custom duty exemption will benefit these sectors, the
huge beneficiaries will be European countries as they will sell
finest products of the world on huge interest," said cotton
products analyst Shakeel Ahmad.
Ahmad said the EU free custom duty offer was applied for Jan 1,
2011, designed as an aid-linked package to help recover the
country from the flood catastrophe. Last year's devastating floods
had severely affected more than a quarter of Pakistan's
population.
He said the falling Pakistani rupee against the dollar and other
major currencies, and exports of etxtile and leather goods at
cheaper rates would greatly benefit the EU countries.
He said the lifting of duties would result in an increase of EU
imports to a tune of about $140 million. Exports from Pakistan are
currently worth about 3.3 billion euros annually, of which 900
million euros come from the 75 items.
The package will be presented for approval to EU member states and
the European Parliament in the next few days and will only come
into effect if WTO partners grant a waiver.
"We will become cost effective to an extent of 50 percent in the
international market and if the government provides cheaper power
without interruption and other incentives, we will double our
leather and leather products exoports," said Agha Saiddain, member
of the Pakistan Tanners Association.
He said the package was exclusively designed for Pakistan, and not
available to other countries, including India, Bangladesh and
Turkey.
Saiddain said India had expressed concerns with WTO over the issue
but now it has decided to do away with the complaint.
The list of 75 Pakistani products included dried mushrooms
truffles, cotton yarn, cotton fabric, woven cotton fabrics, twill
weave cotton fabric, overcoats and anoraks.
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