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IN MEDIA – APRIL 2008
In
Media Archive...
Govt must review
domestic trade policy framework
The Nation, April 13, 2008
ISLAMABAD - The experts on trade and
development urged the government to review
its domestic trade policy framework to
integrate different aspects in it to get
benefits of the globalisation.
The gap should be bridged between policy and
implementation to capitalise its comparative
advantages in the era of competitiveness
under globalisation, they said this while
speaking in a seminar, organised by
Sustainable Development Policy Institute (SDPI)
and Foreign Trade Institute of Pakistan (FTIP),
here on Saturday. M Ashraf Khan, additional
Secretary, Ministry of Commerce, inaugurated
the session.
Participating in the discussion, former
State Bank Governor Dr Ishrat Hussain said
that trade has become a powerful mean for a
country’s economic and social development.
Referring to the annual report of FTIP, he
said that it provides a proof that trade and
development are inter-linked.
He urged for promoting knowledge-based
education to excel in engineering and
technology to earn the fruits of comparative
advantages, adding that the production cycle
changes with reaping the benefits of
comparative advantage.
He advised Pakistanis to move in IT
direction like Indians and get benefit from
services sector, which was 53 per cent of
our economy. He lamented that even Vietnam
and other so many countries have made rapid
progress as compared to Pakistan by properly
utilising their potentials.
Dr Sohail Jehangir Malik of Innovative
Development Strategy (Pvt) Limited said that
there was a need to bridge the gap between
policies and their implementation. He
regretted that the existing trade policy has
become hostage to fiscal and monitoring
space while the state of domestic commerce
was extremely poor.
Dr Abid Suleri, Executive Director of SDPI,
observed that Nairobi-based United Nations
Conference on Trade and Development had no
powers to implement the decisions and
Pakistan along with other developing
countries should adopt a collective position
instead of symbolic position in the UNCTAD.
He said that our national policies needed
genuine reassessment, development of
competitiveness and parallel governance
mechanisms to support the high growth.
Dr Safdar Sohail, Director General Foreign
Trade Institute of Pakistan, said effective
coordination and implementation mechanisms
to use the trade policy for the development
of the country.
Dr Sajjad Akhtar of Centre for Research on
Poverty Reduction and Income urged Pakistan
to invest for competitiveness, adopt
strategic trade policies, restore a focus on
agriculture, combat jobless growth, prepare
a new tax regime, maintain stable exchange
rates, persist with multilateralism and
cooperation with neighbours to mainstream
the development wit the trade policy of
Pakistan.
Former Chairman Public Accounts Committee H
U Baig urged that growth has to be supported
by other policies and mechanisms, in
addition to a strong implementation and
coordination mechanism in place for
policies. He also suggested formation of a
cabinet coordination committee for this
purpose.
Dr Pervaiz Tahir, former chief economist,
urged the need for reclaiming of development
and abundance of alternatives. He said that
development included economic growth,
economic development, human development and
sustainable development.
He deplored over disconnect and linkages
between policies of the country while growth
was uncertain, poverty was continuously
increasing and inequality was starkly
visible.
Syed Hasan Javed, DG UN, Ministry of Foreign
Affairs and Syed Irtiqa Ahmed Zaidi from
Ministry of Commerce shared Pakistan’s
perspective and positions in the United
Nations Conference on Development and
Development (UNCTAD), a UN forum, which was
formed 44 years ago, to debate the trade and
development related issues of member
countries.
Tipu Sultan of Trade Development Authority
of Pakistan differed with the perception
whether there existed any nexus between
trade and development, adding that the role
of UNCTAD should be the capacity building,
human development and food security of the
member countries than to support for export
oriented policies.
This news item can
also be viewed at:
http://www.nation.com.pk/
Analysts welcome Prime
Minister’s announcement on duty-free markets
The Hindu, April 11, 2008
'India’s
decision a lot better than Brazil and
China’s offer’
Prime Minister
Manmohan Singh’s announcement in Delhi a
couple of days ago at the First India-Africa
Forum Summit providing duty-free market
access to 50 least developed countries (LDCs)
has been welcomed by analysts of
international trade here. India’s decision
to unilaterally provide preferential market
access to most exports from these nations is
a lot better than what Brazil and China have
offered, they say.
“This is an extremely
important and timely step by India to
further promote South-South cooperation,”
said Consumer Utility and Trust Society
(CUTS), which describes itself as a Southern
voice on trade and development issues.
“Although the decision was delayed by a few
months, it seems this package would create
meaningful access for LDCs in Indian
markets,” it noted while pointing out that
earlier the Commerce Ministry had sought
more time to work out a formula on LDC
exports to India.
Praise for Manmohan
“That the Indian Prime
Minister chose to make this announcement at
the First India-Africa Forum Summit speaks a
lot about its political significance. The
timing and the presence of six Presidents
and many senior ministers from Africa at the
meeting too are important when the Doha
Round of the trade negotiations by the WTO
members enters a crucial phase,” said CUTS
policy analyst Pravin Kumar.Besides, in
about a fortnight, the quadrennial UNCTAD
Conference (UNCTAD XII) is to begin in
Accra, the capital of Ghana in Africa, where
the nations are expected to review the
progress of implementation of GSTP (Global
System of Trade Preferences among the
developing countries). This is an UNCTAD-led
initiative for boosting South-South trade
cooperation, which urges larger developing
countries to provide unilateral trade
preferences to LDCs.
‘Late starter’
“India is a late
starter. It could have done it a decade
back. However this time too it is going to
prove beneficial for India as well as the
African nations,” said the Director of the
Institute of Development Studies here,
Surjeet Singh. “It is a regional arrangement
and the basic implication is that India will
not impose duty on their commodities,” he
noted.
“The whole exercise
has to be taken in the context of the
inroads China has made into the African
countries,” said Prof. Singh pointing out
that India could benefit from the step, as
many of the African countries are producers
of crude oil and raw materials needed for
the industry here. “Even the gem and
jewellery industry in Jaipur may benefit
from the deal as raw stones are imported
from African countries,” he added.
It is estimated that
India’s preferential access scheme would
cover 94 per cent of its total tariff lines.
This news item can also be viewed at:
http://www.hindu.com/
Foreign Trade Policy:
Hopes die, promises remain unfulfiled
The Financial Express, April 10, 2008
The annual supplement of the foreign trade
policy (FTP) 2004-09, to be announced by
commerce and industry minister Kamal Nath on
April 11, would be the last edition of the
FTP series by the UPA government. But an
announcement made at the beginning of the
series regarding setting up of the Inter
State Trade Council has not yet seen the
light of the day. The Council was envisaged
as an institutionalised dialogue mechanism
between the Centre and the states to make
sure that all the export-friendly measures
taken by the Centre are implemented smoothly
across the country.
Operationalising such an institutional
mechanism could have helped since states are
in charge of VAT refunds for exports and in
awarding exemption from some state levies.
The Council could have solved several
obstacles faced by exporters proper
implementation of the single-window
clearance mechanism of the Special Economic
Zones Act as well as labour reforms and
treating export units as essential services
to thwart flash strikes by workers. Pointing
out the inordinate delays in VAT refunds,
exporters have demanded that discussions on
awarding them exemption from VAT also could
have happened through such a Council.
Pradeep S Mehta, secretary general, CUTS
International, said, "This is an example of
policy inertia on the Centre's part. But the
states are equally to be blamed as there was
no enthusiasm on their side. And now, with
polls around the corner, the states will not
push for any policy agenda. The Council
could have been a platform to help states to
be a part of the Centres efforts in reforms
on procedures regarding exports, imports and
also on strategies for talks on WTO."
Nagesh Kumar, director general, Research and
Information System for Developing Countries,
said, "The commerce and industry minister
should be given the credit for bringing in
the thinking that employment generation
could be integrated with export strategies.
But lot of reforms remain to be done in
removing infrastructural bottlenecks, and in
easing custom valuations as well as trade
facilitation procedures. The government also
has not addressed the problems created by
inverted duty structure."
Another unkept promise is doing away with
the restrictive requirement of block-wise
fulfilment of export obligation under the
export promotion capital goods scheme. The
scheme allows for concessional duty on
imports against an export obligation. The
period for fulfilment of export obligation
is calculated from the date of issuance of
EPCG licence.
Though there is no export obligation for the
first two years, there is an obligation of
15% of the total production in the third and
fourth year. Also, there is an obligation of
35% in the fifth and sixth year, and 50% in
the seventh and eighth year. The commerce
ministry had done away with the block-wise
requirement due to complications involved in
monitoring the exports at every stage.
However, sources said this was rolled back
at finance ministry's insistence.
Also, though the commerce ministry had
announced that export of high-tech items
will be given a duty credit of 10% of the
incremental export growth, high-tech
products were granted export benefit
equivalent to only 5% of incremental growth
in exports. Another unfulfilled promise is
regarding treating supply of stores as well
as refuelling of long-distance flights as
exports and entitling them for benefit like
duty neutralisation under export promotion
schemes.
This news item can also be viewed at:
http://www.financialexpress.com/
Duty-free market
access scheme for LDCs
The Financial Express, April 09, 2008
In a bid to catch up with China in
trade ties with Africa, secure access to
resources and garner support to secure a
permanent seat in the United Nations’
Security Council, India on Tuesday said it
would unilaterally give preferential
duty-free access for exports from least
developed countries (LDC), 34 of which are
in Africa.
Addressing the First Indo-Africa Forum
Summit here, Prime Minister Manmohan Singh
said India and Africa have coordinated
positions in the UN and other international
forums. “No one understands better than
India and Africa the imperative need for
global institutions to reflect current
realities and to build a more equitable
global Economy and polity,” Singh said. He
also said both sides also recognised the
importance of market access in ensuring the
development dimension of international
trade. Over a dozen African countries are
attending the Summit and the participants
include heads of state like South Africa’s
Thabo Mbeki.
Announcing a duty free tariff preference
scheme for LDCs, Singh said the Scheme would
cover 94% of India’s total tariff lines and
provide preferential market access on tariff
lines that comprise 92.5% of global exports
of all LDCs. “Products of immediate interest
to Africa which are covered include cotton,
cocoa, aluminium ores, copper ores, cashew
nuts, cane sugar, ready-made garments, fish
fillets and non-industrial diamonds,” the
Prime Minister said.
Nagesh Kumar, director-general, Research and
Information System for Developing Countries,
said “India itself is a low income country
with a per capita income of below $1,000 and
is seeking more market access for its
products in other countries. But, being a
responsible emerging Economy, India has
shown solidarity with other low income
countries by such generous measures.”
However, Pradeep Mehta, secretary general,
CUTS International, said: “Since 6% of
India’s total tariff lines and some of
Africa’s exports are not covered by the
scheme, it should see that the scheme serves
Africa’s genuine interests by ensuring that
none of the items which are of interest to
Africa find a place in India’s negative list
(items not subjected to tariff reduction
commitments).”
New Delhi is also concerned that though
China’s trade with African countries was
less than that of India’s in 1999, currently
it stands at $55 billion, compared to
India’s $20 billion in 2006-07. India’s
trade with Africa was just $967 million in
1991.
The Prime Minister said over the next 5 to 6
years, India would undertake projects
against grants in excess of $500 million and
give priority to develop infrastructure in
the the continent in areas of power,
railways, telecom and IT. “We will
strengthen local capabilities by creating
regional and pan-African institutions of
higher education, especially in sciences,
Information Technology and vocational
education and investment in research and
development in renewable forms of energy,
and agricultural development,” the PM said.
However, Biswajit Dhar, head of the centre
for WTO Studies, IIFT, said, “China had
taken the first step in this regard with
Africa and has backed it up with being
proactive for finding Markets for Chinese
industries in return. India should also
encourage its investors to look at viable
investment opportunities at the least
possible price in Africa.”
Experts said in return for the measures
taken to help African countries, India would
expect access to rich natural resources as
well as food and energy supplies. Though
China is focusing on countries like Sudan,
where several countries have voiced human
rights concerns, India has ties with many
southern and eastern African countries....
This news item can also be viewed at:
http://www.financialexpress.com/
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