ISLAMABAD, Jan 30: Economic experts and analysts at a conference, on Wednesday, unanimously agreed that Pakistan should grant Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status to India.
Islamabad Policy Research Institute (IPRI) had organised the conference ‘Pakistan-India Trade Cooperation: Challenges and Opportunities’.
Economic scholar Dr Kamal Mannoo said that cheap consumer imports from India would help tame inflation at home.
He said that a carefully thought out process of negotiations and a comprehensive package of agreements followed by a soundmonitoring and management mechanism was needed.
He said that long standing concerns on both sides should be addressed to create a win-win situation for both countries, adding that trade liberalisation would speed up the normalisation process.
He said that granting MFN status to India was not a ‘favour’ but a requisite, explaining that India granted MFN status to Pakistan back in 1995 and Pakistan being member of WTO had granted it to other states as well.
While Dr Zafar Mahmood from Pakistan Institute of Development Economics (PIDE), Quaid-i-Azam University, also expressed similar views saying that granting MFN was not a new thing, Pakistan and India had this status from 1948-1965.
It was not a Confidence Building Measure (CBM) but a part of trade linkages with any state, said Dr Zafar.
He further added that trade cooperation should be signed after granting MFN status to India. He was of the view that it would be beneficial for Pakistan in revenue generation, improved competitiveness, Foreign Direct Investment inflows, and surge in intra-industry trade.
Dr Zafar also delineated impediments to trade cooperation which mainly included non-granting of MFN status to India by Pakistan, high tariffs and smuggling.
Dr Zafar also suggested that Pakistan should not adopt defensive economic policies. He further said that India could be used as a bargain counter in trade with other states.
Salma Malik, Assistant Professor QAU, said that economics should be used as a tool by Pakistan to get prominent and strengthened position in the region.
Moreover, she said that fragility of Pak-India relations in terms of physical security which directly affects all the other spheres could not be ignored.
She cited the recent tension at the Line of Control, ignited by a minor skirmish which could have led to a serious conflict as a typical example.
She also added that media of both sides should not be used as a medium for creating hype and chaos over minor incidences.