Business Recorder
Published Date: Aug 7, 2014
Indo-Pak trade: World Bank decides to release technical grant
ISLAMABAD: This is with reference to a news item titled “Indo-Pak trade:
World Bank decides to release technical grant” carried by Business Recorder in its 5th August issue.
The entire exercise for assessing the pros and cons for granting Non-Discriminatory Market Access (NDMA) status to India has been led proactively by officers of the Ministry itself, who conducted their own analyses as well as relied upon research studies conducted by the leading Pakistani educational institutions/think tanks like LUMS, IBA, Beacon-house National University, State Bank of Pakistan, Sustainable Development Policy Institute as well as Pakistan Business Council. The said news-item therefore casts unwarranted aspersions on anonymous “incumbent officials
of the Ministry”.
The assertion is false that any single institution has decided to release any technical assistance with the exclusive objective of facilitating Pak-India trade. Commerce Ministry is negotiating with multiple, international, multilateral and bilateral institutions and agencies for grant of technical assistance to strengthen institutional capacity to undertake research in trade matters, regional connectivity, legislation, and negotiation techniques.
As
an integral part of raising institutional capacity, the Ministry is reviewing its business processes in order to raise our institutional capacity to protect legitimate interests of Pakistani business and to respond to newly emerging challenges in international trade. Strengthening of land ports is only one component of the proposed project and includes Torkhum, Wagha and Chaman border crossing.
The
bilateral meeting between Pakistan’s Commerce Minister with his Indian counterpart on the sidelines of the SAFTA Ministerial meeting at Bhutan did not take place. The purported agenda in the said news item has no basis. Ministry of Commerce shall continue to be dedicated to seeking commercial advantages for Pakistan’s manufacturers, farmers, workers and
traders.