"Removal of barriers a must for trade facilitation in S. Asia"

KARACHI: "Harmonization of standards and procedures relating to customs, non-tariff barriers and political mindset are the major bottle-necks in trade facilitation issues in South Asia".

According to Spokesperson FPCCI, this was stated by Tariq Sayeed, Immediate Past President SAARC CCI while addressing the inaugural session of seminar on " Trade facilitation in South Asia: Prospects and challenges for regional integration" organized by SAARC CCI in collaboration with FPCCI supported by Friedrich Nauman Foundation; regional office New Delhi.

Referring comparative Trade analysis with other Trade blocks such as EU, NAFTA & ASEAN, he said that SAARC was the least integrated region in the world. He applauded policy measures of the Govt. of Pakistan towards south Asia and requested compatible measures from other member countries to promote intra SAARC trade.

Dr. Ishrat Hussain Dean and Director IBA and former Governor SBP presented four trends in global trade while emphasizing on shift in policies for promotion of exports in Global Markets compatible to International requirements. He said that in the era of competitiveness, country need to focus on innovative measures and R&D to produce quality products and to stay competitive in the international market.

Zafar Mehmood, Secretary Commerce said that trade is not only instrumental to bring people close together but also made people prosperous. He said that to inflexible visa regime and in absence of trade facilitation mechanism, South Asian countries could not exploit the true potential.

The session was moderated by Mr. Iqbal Tabish, Secretary General SAARC CCI.The inaugural session was followed by two working sessions i.e Trade Facilitation Session I "A propeller of Regional Economic Integration" which was chaired by Muhammad Ashraf Janjua, Sr.Fellow-Prof.(Eco.), Dean of IoBM & For. Deputy Governor-SBP and the Presentations were made on "Harmonization of Custom Procedures and Standards" by Ms. Suwendrani Jayaratne, Research Assistant, Institute of Policy Studies-Sri Lanka, a presentation on Para Tariff and Non- Tariff Barriers" by Dr. Muzaffar Ali Isani, Professor of Economics - Iqra University and another presentation on "Indo-Pakistan relations: bottlenecks & way forward" by Dr. Riaz Ahmed Shaikh, Vice Rector-Biztek-Karachi .The Session II "Addressing Challenges through compatible policy measures was Chaired by Engr. M.A Jabbar, former VP-FPCCI. The presentations were made by Mr. Mujeeb Khan-Head WTO Cell, TDAP, a Presentation on "Para Tariff and Non- Tariff Barriers-Bangladesh perspective" by Mr. Faridul Hussain, Ex-Director General EPB-Government of Bangladesh and the last one was made on "People to people contact and Visa Regime in South Asia" by Engr. M.A Jabbar, former VP-FPCCI.

Mr. Sultan Ahmed Chawla, President FPCCI in his welcome address said that South Asia has enormous potential for using economic integration to reduce poverty and move the region to unprecedented prosperity. The progress till date in regional integration has been limited as compared to other sub regions in Asia and elsewhere. The Intra-SAARC trade has not increased much since SAFTA has been implemented and there remain considerable tariff and no-tariff barriers within SAFTA. Trade directions of members are mostly involved in western market that incurs higher transportation cost with low profit margin.