ISLAMABAD / NEW DELHI: Pakistan has agreed to open its border for all Indian products by the end of next month provided New Delhi provides a meaningful market access to Pakistani products.

The deadline was mooted during a meeting on Saturday between Commerce Minister Khurram Dastagir Khan and his Indian counterpart Anand Sharma on the sidelines of a Saarc business conclave in New Delhi.

Islamabad had missed the Dec 31, 2012, deadline for abolition of the negative list or granting the status of most-favoured nation status to India. It has 1,209 items on the negative list, meaning the items cannot be imported from India.

(Reuters adds: Khurram Dastagir said the State Bank of Pakistan had proposed that its Indian counterpart grant banking licences to three Pakistani banks, a move which would be reciprocated by his side.

“In the banking sector we are hoping to have some progress, very rapid progress,” he said).

In a bid to smoothen trade, the two countries have decided to open the Wagah-Attari border for round-the-clock movement of goods. The border gates at the moment are open only from dawn to dusk.

Both nations have agreed to permit containers to be moved right up to Amritsar and Lahore instead of being unloaded at the checkpost and subsequently re-loaded across their respective borders.

At present, imports from India are allowed only through ships and trains.

Since anti-India hardliners in Pakistan would not like to grant “most favoured nation” status, or MFN, for trade with their neighbour, Islamabad has proposed a new name that should clear the deck for flourishing commerce – non-discriminatory market access (NDMA).

Khurram Dastagir said in an interview published by India’s Business Standard on Saturday: “We’re now officially calling it ‘Non-discriminatory Market Access’ or NDMA.

“This will happen soon. But before that, we have to create a level playing field and give unimpaired market access to each other. It is not just about tariff rate quotas or World Trade Organisation rules. It is also about a framework on which trade can take place.

“Trade cannot happen in vacuum. We want resumption of the composite dialogue because it is not just trade but also investment. One incident at the border and the entire process gets derailed.

“There has to be predictability and stability.”

India has already granted the MFN status to Pakistan.

The announcement of NDMA is expected during a visit to Islamabad by Indian Commerce Minister Anand Sharma next month.

NORMAL TRADE TIES: According to a joint statement, the two sides reaffirmed commitment of their governments to establishing normal trade relations at the earliest. An official of the commerce ministry in Islamabad told Dawn that opening of the border by Pakistan would mean that India would have to remove all items from its sensitive list.

Pakistan has sought immediate reduction in customs duties on these items. The items placed on the sensitive list of Safta cannot be considered for duty reduction.

The official said India would have to reduce duties and remove items from the sensitive list before receiving MFN status from Pakistan. The two ministers decided to intensify and accelerate the process of trade normalisation, liberalisation and facilitation and to implement the agreed measures before the end of next month.

The two sides agreed to convene meetings of technical working groups of customs, railways, standards organisations as well as of representatives from the banking and energy sectors to thrash out the nuts and bolts for execution of all decisions.

A joint business forum of chief executive officers in different sectors has met twice since the formation of the PML-N government.

The business forum has formed several sub-groups to boost trade cooperation in textiles, tourism, energy, light engineering and pharmaceuticals.

The forum will meet in Pakistan next month. An ‘India show’ will be held in Lahore next month to build upon the success of a similar show in the city in 2012.

Artists from across the border will create paintings, in concert with their Pakistani counterparts, to portray the common heritage of the two peoples.

A joint vintage car rally from Amritsar to Lahore will coincide with the ‘India show’.