India cuts tariffs for African LDCs

India has decided to unilaterally reduce tariffs for African least developed countries in a bid to provide market access to products of their interests.

Prime Minister Manmohan Singh's Trade and Economic Relations Committee has given its in-principle approval to the move, Union Commerce Minister Kamal Nath said in New Delhi.

As part of the move, India would reduce tariffs on products of these LDCs' interest on a non-reciprocal basis. A list of the products has been prepared by UNCTAD (United Nations Conference on Trade and Development), which carried out an extensive study on these LDC's and their area of strengths, official sources told PTI.

The commerce ministry will now hold inter-ministerial consultations on the list of products prepared by UNCTAD before it is taken up for final approval, they said.

The government has also decided to give special and differential treatment to other LDCs in various Regional Trading Arrangements.

TERC, which met on Tuesday also gave its nod to the Indo-Israel Joint Study Group report which had recommended a bilateral Preferential Trading Agreement.

The report would be presented to the prime ministers of both the countries when they meet in Tel Aviv in the near future.

The committee, which has the commerce minister, Finance Minister P Chidambaram, External Affairs Minister Natwar Singh, Agriculture Minister Sharad Pawar, Planning Commission Deputy Chairman Montek Singh Ahluwalia, also took stock of the progress of negotiations on SAFTA (South Asian Free Trade Area).

It also gave its nod to the Preferential Trading Arrangement with Mauritius as a part of the Comprehensive Commercial and Economic Partnership Agreement besides reviewing the progress in negotiations for the BIMSTEC (Bay of Bengal Initiative for Trade and Economic Cooperation).