Consumer
Unity & Trust Society (CUTS) International, an Indian think-tank
headquartered in Jaipur, organised a few day-long conferences in New Delhi with
the support of the Asia Foundation and Australian Agency for International
Development (AusAID). The programme was to, firstly, promote a participatory
approach to address non-tariff trade barriers in South Asian regional trade
and, secondly, to achieve consensus on South Asian regional integration and
connectivity.
CUTS
had assembled focused participants to discuss, deliberate, and endorse the
Business Plan and South Asia Regional Economic Integration Strategy that were
presented at the two conferences. The eight-member Pakistani delegation
consisted of two representatives of the Sustainable Development Policy
Institute (SDPI), two from the Ministry of Commerce, two from NGOs, one from
media, and I represented trade and industry.
Intra
SAARC trade is Indo-Pak centric
Liberalisation
of trade and investment, especially with reference to SAARC countries, is
primarily focused on Indo-Pakistan bilateral relations and therefore assumes
substantial importance whenever regional economic integration is deliberated
within SAARC. Trade and investment liberalisation within the Indo-Pakistan
context was, is, and would generally be a very delicate affair since this
process is susceptible to non-trade factors that hold its progress hostage.
Indo-Pakistan
trade policy decisions have been on a roller-coaster ride in the past two
years. The process that melted the ice began in Islamabad in April 2011 when
the two former commerce secretaries met and agreed upon a joint declaration.
Over the past two years, at least fifteen initiatives have been undertaken by
both countries and these have led to an upsurge in trade figures.
Trade
and investment process between India and Pakistan has to maintain its own
sustainability in spite of a high-low scenario where external factors impede as
well as make the progress regressive at certain times. Be it military
skirmishes at the border, be it the brouhaha of hardliners, or be it the
dastardly misguided actions of extremists and perpetrators of terrorism, trade
between India and Pakistan would remain captive to them and the events. The
recent jingoistic statements, allegations of beheading of captured troops, and
the recent gruesome and fatal attacks on high-profile prisoners in jails have
muddied the environment and may affect the trade process.
However,
acceding to these hindrances or resigning to these compelling reasons would
throw the liberalisation course back to the dark ages and hand victory on a
silver platter to those very forces that do not appreciate a conducive and
peaceful environment. Therefore, in all sincerity, it is incumbent upon the
stakeholders, such as business community, media, scholars, non-governmental
organisations, etc, not only in the two large South Asian neighbors, but even
those in other SAARC countries, to promote the need for India and Pakistan to
go with full force towards liberalization of trade and investment. This would,
of course, also motivate citizens of these other SAARC countries to endorse and
promote the concept of regional economic integration and, at the same pace, providing
the foundation to make SAARC a strong, meaningful, and effective organisational
entity.
Notwithstanding
the desire of stakeholders to enhance trade and investment within the region,
the bare fact is that there are plenty of other roadblocks that have hampered a
smooth progress and continued to provide an element of doubt and distrust. The
most vitiating blockade is the blatant implementation of Non-Tariff Barriers
(NTBs).
Today,
while everyone talks of liberalisation of trade, free trade agreements,
preferential treatment, and establishing trade blocs, the fact of the matter is
that new NTBs are being regularly invented by various countries. As tariffs go
down or become zero-rated, NTBs become more prominent and prove to be largest
impediments to trade. Where there were once barriers at the borders, now NTBs
have become non-border barriers. The role of SAARC, here, becomes very
important as this organisation is the natural candidate as a focal point among
member countries. The primary factor that can unite South Asia is trade, the
easy movement of business people and strong links between the business
communities of member countries.
The
perpetual faithfulness to discriminatory applications of rules, regulations and
laws have provided ammunition to the adversaries and opponents of free trade to
strongly agitate any relaxation in trade policies, for example, Pakistan still
not granting Most Favored Nation status to India in spite of the Pakistani
Federal Cabinet’s decision in April 2012 to do so from January 01, 2013.
Institutional
mechanism
There
is an imperative need to, first and foremost, recognise that the Track II
approach is workable and practical. The main advantage of this process is that
all interlocutors at various forums are serious and are more or less on the
same page on most of the contentious issues or n the methodology and procedure
of addressing these issues.
It
is therefore in the best scheme of things that an institutionalised mechanism
be developed to coordinate with all stakeholders and to set in motion a process
to disseminate data and input through a centralised clearing house. The major
reason for this approach is that a formidable movement can be evolved that
would possess the critical mass to convince policymakers, naysayers, and
hardliners that progress towards liberalisation of trade, that progress towards
overall peace, and that progress towards bettering the lives of the people in
the region could be possible for the mutual long-term benefit of the region. In
fact, SAARC should set up a Council for NTBs if SAFTA is to become a reality.
Notwithstanding
this optimistic outlook, the fact of the matter is that citizens in each
country must also play their constitutional and fundamental role in boosting
the morale of those who are out to achieve the desired objectives of peace,
harmony, and better quality of life. American tycoon Henry Ford very wisely
stated that “coming together is a beginning, keeping together is progress, and
working together is success.
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