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Tuesday, May 08, 2012
Pak links removal of NTBs to negative listLAHORE: Pakistan has made removal of non-tariff bearers (NTBs) by the Indian side a condition to phase out its negative list of trade items by December, Federal Commerce Secretary Zafar Mahmood, said while delivering his keynote address at the second Indo-Pak Economic Conference on Monday. The secretary said that Pakistan cabinet took a historic decision on February 29 of reducing negative list to only 1,209 items. However, the cabinet decided that this list will be phased out by December 31, provided India assures level playing fields for Pakistani traders. Mahmood was addressing the second session of the conference entitled “Take Off: Converting Promise to Potential”. The commerce secretary, reading a paper on ‘Opening Markets for Pakistan’, said, “Our friends in India can do a lot in ensuring level playing fields for traders hailing from other side of the borders.” He said that unfortunately India had given concessions in trade to all countries in SAARC, except Pakistan. India has trade relations with Sri Lanka as it has signed a free trade agreement with island nation, he said. staff report
Courtesy www.dailytimes.com.pk