QUETTA: Business leaders of Balochistan are optimistic that the South Asian Free Trade Area (Safta) agreement will prove to be a breakthrough for the region's trade.

"The free trade agreement among Saarc member countries will bring about socio-economic development, poverty alleviation and achievement of unity and harmony in the region."

However, they also expressed their apprehensions that if all the seven-member countries of Saarc were not provided equal opportunities in developing their resources and promoting trade after implementing Safta then it would create great difficulties for industries of the least developed countries (LDCs).

Federation of Pakistan Chamber of Commerce and Industry vice-president Sardar Mohammad Ali Jogezai said that with the implementation of the Safta agreement Pakistan would get a market share of over one billion population in India.

"Pakistan is to improve the quality of its products and reduce prices. The main thing is quality and price which is an important factor of exports to any country. Pakistan should start planning how it could benefit from Safta," Mr Jogezai added.

He said Safta would be implemented in 2006 and Pakistan had two years for taking concrete steps for improving the quality of its production. He said that at present the volume of trade between India and Pakistan is around $300 million, while exports worth billions of dollars were being done through illegal channels.

"With the regularization of trade the volume of legal trade will reach over two to three billion dollars within next three to four years," Mr Jogezai argued. He dispelled the impression that with the implementation of Safta Pakistan's industry would face a great loss and said that it was a propaganda of few industrialists who do not want to improve quality of their products and reduce prices.

"The government should make plan for the benefit of 140 million people instead of few industrialists who were looting their own people."

Mr Jogezai said Pakistan could also get the market share of other Saarc countries, including Bangladesh, by improving quality of its products and lowering prices.

Sardar Jogezai, who was also a former provincial industry minister, was of the view that the issue of reducing duties under Safta might create some problems between the member countries.

Balochistan Economic Forum president Sardar Shoukat Aziz Khan Popalzai has offered some different opinions about Safta. He said that India would be more beneficial than any other Saarc member countries as its industry was already developed and its trade volume is very big as compared to Pakistan and other Saarc countries.

Mr Popalzai said that implementation of Safta would affect Pakistan's industry as it was completely under pressure due to heavy duties on raw material and high power tariff that increased prices of products.

However, he said that Pakistan could benefit from Safta only by reducing duties on raw material, extending maximum incentives to its industries and improving the quality of export items.

He said that Pakistan would be a big market for India as its products were already reaching Pakistan through illegal trade (smuggling) and were very cheap as compared to Pakistani products.

"Pakistan will be an importer instead of an exporter if it fails to plan the things before 2006 when Safta will be implemented," he said.

Mr Popalzai said Pakistan had great potential in agriculture, livestock, minerals, cotton, sugar, and food items and could get market in India, but it needed planning. He said some Saarc countries were exporting Pakistani cotton products using their name. "Pakistan should take notice of it."