Thursday, Apr 11, 2002
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By B. Muralidhar Reddy
The Indian delegation, led by the Deputy Chairman of the Planning Commission, K.C. Pant, sees the action plan as a major step forward in expanding intra-regional trade and capital flows within the SAARC region as decided at the 11th SAARC summit held in Kathmandu in January. The plan enhances the potential for increased trade and commerce between India and Pakistan notwithstanding the ups and downs in their political ties. ``The current meeting coupled with the SAARC Information Ministers meeting held in Islamabad in the first week of March clearly demonstrates that SAARC is not hostage to the love-hate relationship between India and Pakistan'', said a senior Indian diplomat. The action on SAPTA and SAFTA is good news for the captains of industry and merchants of trade in both India and Pakistan who wish to enhance trade and liberate it from the "core problems" (Kashmir) that has cast a shadow on all other spheres of co-operation. India has accorded the Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to Pakistan and has been urging Islamabad for reciprocity. However, Pakistan's contention, so far, has been that relations in all spheres could blossom only if all differences, especially Kashmir, are resolved. The full operationalisation of SAPTA and a faster movement towards SAFTA will automatically open up markets for both India and Pakistan on a large number of commodities. At the moment, under its export-import policy, Pakistan permits import of only 600 and so items from India. Four rounds of negotiations have already been completed on SAFTA. The fourth round was held last month and it was decided to include in the basket items highly traded and potential items. The SAARC expert group, which is working on the switch over from SAPTA to SAFTA, is mandated to submit its report by the end of the year. The report will come up for consideration at the SAARC summit scheduled next year. The Indian side has noted with satisfaction that in their report, the Finance and Planning Ministers have reflected a number of Indian "experiments" in the sphere of poverty alleviation. These include social security nets and monitoring of poverty indices. On external policies, it has been decided to work with developed countries to increase Overseas Development Assistance (ODA) to 0.7 per of the Gross National Product through formulation of common positions at relevant international fora and frequent consultations among member states on issues of finance and international investment. The Ministers have agreed to seek increased market access in developed countries through joint positions to address the biases against developing countries in WTO-related issues, removal of tariff and non-tariff barriers, joint positions against creeping protectionism against the exports of developing countries and flexibility for developing countries in Intellectual Property Rights. Another interesting formulation adopted relates to unearthing past "inflows of illegal and tax-evaded" money originating from SAARC countries and controlling them in future through institutional mechanisms. In his inaugural speech, the Pakistan President, Pervez Musharraf, had bitterly complained about how the ill-gotten wealth of some politicians was stashed in foreign banks. On internal policies, the Ministers agreed on a new phrase, the philosophy of `Gross National Happiness', coined by Bhutan. It is sought to be achieved through equitable socio-economic development, preservation of environment, promotion of cultural heritage and good responsible governance.
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