'Pakistan will gain more from Safta'

NEW DELHI: As India waits for the next Safta ministerial council to take up the issue of Pakistan violating the regional trade agreement, a study shows that Pakistan will actually lose more in global exports by withholding concessions to India.

The study by the Asian Development Bank (ADB) and United Nations Conference on Trade and Development (UNCTAD) also shows that India’s gains will not be affected significantly if Pakistan only partially participates in Safta, and that Bangladesh will benefit the most from a full implementation of Safta.

“India has the least to gain out of the Safta except for political gains. However, India and Pakistan gain more in exports to Bangladesh,’’ said Veena Jha, coordinator of UNCTAD, India programme.

The study shows that India is less affected because of a larger market with exports tied in other countries outside the Saarc region. But for the Saarc countries, India becomes a major market.

India has accused Pakistan of violating Article 23 of Safta and going back on negotiations by limiting trade with India to items on Pakistan’s positive list of 733 importable items, whereas under Safta, there is supposed to be no positive list.

India has written to the Saarc secretariat asking that the matter be resolved immediately. The study assumes significance as the findings show that Pakistan’s global exports would increase by 0.77% with full Safta.