Pakistan on Wednesday announced a five percent reduction in customs tariff on the import of 4,803 items from Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal and Maldives under the Trade Liberalisation Programme (TLP) of the South Asian Free Trade Area (SFATA) agreement.
Despite heightened tension with India, Islamabad has also decided to extend the SAFTA concessions to 1,926 items imported from India, according to a Federal Board of Revenue notification effective from December 31, 2008.
A tariff reduction roadmap for December 2008 to December 2011 has also been announced. Pakistan has not given the Most Favoured Nation status to India so far, and is trading with New Delhi on a Positive List basis despite signing SAFTA. The TLP began in July 2006 in line with Article 7 of SAFTA, under which the tariff on imports from the least-developed countries (LDCs) of SAARC (Bangladesh, Bhutan, Nepal, and Maldives) by non-LDCs (India, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) had to be reduced to five percent or less by the end of 2009.
Source: dailytimes.com.pk
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