India and Afghanistan
have signed a Preferential Trade Agreement (PTA) which provides
for free movement of specified goods as agreed between the two
countries through the reduction of tariffs. The Agreement was
signed here last evening by Shri Arun Jaitley, Minister of Commerce
& Industry and Law & Justice, on behalf of the Government
of India and Mr. Sayed Mustafa Kazemi, Minister of Commerce,
on behalf of the Government of Afghanistan in the presence of
Prime Minister Shri Atal Bihari Vajpayee and the President of
Afghanistan, Mr. Hamid Karzai. The objective is to provide for
grant of concessions on a range of products of export interest
to Afghanistan, as a part of India’s endeavour to give an impetus
to strengthening of trade and economic relations between the
two countries. The Agreement is WTO compatible.
Products covered
under the Agreement will be eligible for preferential treatment
provided they satisfy the Rules of Origin laid down under the
Agreement. The Agreement also provides for ‘safeguard measures’
(Art. VIII) to suspend or withdraw preferential treatment in
case of any product causing or threatening to cause serious
injury to the importing contracting party.
India is granting
50-100% tariff concession on 38 items of dry fruits, fresh fruits,
seeds, medicinal herbs and precious stones and in turn India
is receiving duty-free access on 8 tariff lines of our export
interest, which include black tea, pharmaceutical products,
ayurvedic and homeopathic medicines, refined sugar, cement etc.
Total volume of
trade between India and Afghanistan for the last three years
has been as under:
(Value in Rs. Lakhs)
|
Year
|
1999-00
|
2000-01
|
2001-02
|
|
Export
|
14338
|
11815
|
11622
|
|
Import
|
9124
|
12146
|
8356
|
|
Total trade
|
23512
|
23962
|
19979
|
