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In a move to boost trade with India, the Pakistan cabinet has approved an additional list of over 200 Indian products for customs duty concession under South Asian Preferential Trading Arrangement.
The cabinet meeting chaired by Premier Zafarullah Khan Jamali approved the customs duty concession for 223 more Indian items, taking the total number of items eligible for duty relief to around 463 at the 'sixth digit level' -- the ranking of such items on the list containing all categories of items.
The concession would be applicable from the beginning of next month, a Pakistan commerce ministry official was quoted as saying in local media in Islamabad on Thursday.
The duty concession given to India on 223 items was agreed during the fourth round of SAPTA talks on trade preferences held at Kathmandu in December 2003 between the officials of the two countries, local daily Dawn reported, quoting the unnamed official.
Beside this, Pakistan has added 60 new items to the 'positive list' and also allowed duty concession on them. With these the total number of items rose to 746 on the positive list for trading with India, he said.
The official said that out of the total 223 items, Pakistan has given 10 per cent concession on 216 items to India and 20 per cent concession on seven items.
The concession given on products includes mineral ores, raw material and intermediary goods for the pharmaceutical industry; rubber and its accessories, corks and allied goods, cotton yarn, copper bars and rods for machinery and industrial use and industrial cargo vehicles and parts.
Similarly, India has given concession on 262 items at the sixth digit level to Pakistan. With these the total number of concessional items to Islamabad rose to around 632 at the same level from New Delhi.
India has given Pakistan 10 per cent concession on 235 items, 20 per cent on 18 items and 25 per cent on nine items, the official said.