ISLAMABAD, Aug 18: Pakistan has informed the International Monetary Fund that the movement in trade liberalization process with India would be linked with development in other areas as part of a composite dialogue.

Informed sources told Dawn on Thursday that Commerce Minister Humayun Akhtar Khan told a visiting technical team of the IMF that Pakistan would not further liberalize its trade regime with India in isolation if there was no progress in other components of the composite dialogue.

The IMF team was reviewing Pakistan’s trade policy initiatives, its bilateral trade regime with other countries, performance of the Trading Corporation of Pakistan (TCP) and compliance level on various WTO agreements.

The Fund was briefed that Pakistan had taken an important decision to allow the import of onions, potatoes, tomatoes, garlic, live animals and halal meat from India via land route of Wagah.

This was followed by the inclusion of vaccines and medicines for the treatment of AIDS and cancer in the list of items importable from India. The ministry also briefed the Fund on latest position of the South Asia Free Trade Area (Safta).

The IMF delegation was informed that the latest addition to this list was the import of raw and refined sugar from India through the land route, the sources said, adding that consequently, goods had now started moving into Pakistan trough the Wagah border.

The Fund was informed that Pakistan’s export to European Union member countries had declined during the year 2004-05 mainly because of a fall in the export of bedlinen owing to an anti-dumping duty on the commodity.

Regarding the trade with the United Stated, the Fund was apprised that Pakistan was looking for having some preferential arrangements with Washington. The development in finalizing a bilateral investment treaty with America was at an advanced stage, the Fund was informed.

About the level of compliance with various WTO agreements, the IMF team was informed that Pakistan has already filed initial offers in the services sector with the WTO secretariat. Pakistan has already kept the level of applied customs rates on various agriculture products from their bound rates.

The IMF was also briefed on TCP’s purchase of sugar, cotton and import of wheat during the last year.