MINISTER FOR COMMERCE AND INDUSTRY (SHRI ARUN JAITLEY)
(a) to (f): A Statement is laid on the Table of the House.
STATEMENT REFERRED TO IN REPLY TO PARTS (a) TO (f) OF LOK SABHA STARRED QUESTION NO. 189 TO BE ANSWERED ON 1.8.2003 REGARDING TRADE WITH PAKISTAN BY SHRI SHRIPRAKASH & SHRI JYOTIRADITYA M. SCINDIA
(a) : Figures of India`s total trade with Pakistan during each of the last three years are given below:-
(Million US Dollars)
Year Export Import Total Trade
2000-2001 186.83 64.03 250.86 2001-2002 144.01 74.76 208.77 2002-2003 205.81 44.52 250.33
(b) & (c) : It is Government`s policy to promote trade ties with all countries including Pakistan. As a WTO Member, Government of India continues to accord Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan, being another WTO member. But Pakistan has not yet reciprocated this requirement under WTO. India has also been exchanging tariff concessions with South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) member countries under SAARC Preferential Trading Arrangement (SAPTA). Other trade promotion measures include exchange of business delegations, participation in fairs and exhibitions and buyer-seller meets etc.
(d) to (f) : While India has not banned the imports of any specific item from Pakistan, only 600 Indian items are notified by Pakistan for its import.
In response to Prime Minister`s peace initiative, Pakistan Prime Minister in his statement on May 6, 2003 announced that in order to give impetus to SAARC, Pakistan had decided to place additional 78 items on the positive list of trade with India. These include, milk, onion, fruits, seeds, groundnut oil and oil cake, chemicals, metals and semi-precious stones etc. A formal order in this regard was subsequently issued by the Pakistani authorities.
Items other than those mentioned in the positive list of Pakistan (600+78) for imports from India are not allowed to be imported from India.
