March 27, 2007	Tuesday	Rabi-ul-Awwal 7, 1428

ISLAMABAD, March 26: Pakistan imported Rs102 million worth of goods from India, Sri Lanka and Bangladesh during the July-Feb period of the 2006-07 under South Asia Free Trade Area (Safta) agreement.

An official analysis issued here by commerce ministry stated that the statistics maintained by the Central Board of Revenue (CBR) showed that over 92 per cent of these imports were from India.

This fact contradicts the Indian claim that Pakistan has not provided market access to New Delhi under Safta agreement, added the announcement.

India had raised concern in the Safta Ministerial Council meeting held recently that the import policy regulation of Pakistan had restricted market access for the Indian goods following the implementation of the Safta agreement from July 1, 2006.

However, Pakistan had rebutted the Indian claim saying import policy regulations were provided in the import regimes of all member countries under the Safta agreement.

The fact that such conditions were not mentioned by other Saarc countries in their respective notifications did not imply that they had waived such conditions for trade within the region. Pakistan had fully complied with its obligations under the Safta, added the announcement.