ISLAMABAD: Officials here say they have no word from the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC) that New Delhi wants the Trade and Commerce Ministers of the member-countries to meet over Islamabad's refusal to implement the South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA) agreement with India.

Reacting to reports that Commerce Minister Kamal Nath had asked the SAARC secretariat to summon an "urgent" meeting of the SAFTA Ministerial Council, a senior official of the Pakistan Commerce Ministry said if India had a problem, it should use the dispute resolution clause.

Foreign Ministry spokeswoman Tasnim Aslam said Pakistan had not received India's complaint yet.

Ms. Aslam told The News that Pakistan was committed to implementing SAFTA. "But we do not have to live up to Indian expectations as there are several countries that have ratified it."

Bilateral consultation

The SAFTA dispute resolution mechanism provides for a bilateral consultation process to "amicably" settle any difference within a specified period. If this does not work, then it is for a "committee of experts," which functions under the SAFTA Council of Ministers, to settle the dispute.

When SAFTA became operational on July 1, the Pakistan Commerce Ministry issued a notification for reduced tariffs on 4,872 items to be traded under it. The notification made it clear that trade with India would be governed by the positive list contained in its 2005-2006 trade policy. The positive list has 773 items allowed for import from India.

Pakistan has also not given India the most-favoured nation status that it conferred on the other SAARC countries. India granted the status to Pakistan in 1995-96.

Commerce Ministry officials said replacing the positive list with the far less restrictive negative list was not automatic for India under SAFTA, as this was a matter for discussion in the larger peace process between the countries.

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