Islamabad: A day after India approached the SAARC Secretariat against Pakistan's decision to limit trade to a few items under South Asian Free Trade Area (SAFTA), Islamabad on Friday indicated that it may move to the dispute settlement mechanism of SAFTA to resolve the differences.
Reacting to reports that Commerce Minister Kamal Nath has written to SAARC Secretary General Chenkyab Dorji about Pakistan's decision not to fully accord SAFTA benefits to India, Foreign Office spokesperson here Tasnim Aslam said Islamabad has not yet received India's complaint.
"We have not seen the complaint. SAFTA has a dispute mechanism. We will take action after receiving India's complaint," she said.
Pakistan's Commerce Ministry officials said Islamabad braced for a legal battle on SAFTA application through dispute mechanism agreed under SAFTA.
SAFTA agreement has listed an elaborate dispute settlement procedure and Pakistan, which insists that it would not accord full trade status to India until the Kashmir issue is resolved, is expected to defend its case through the dispute settlement mechanism of SAFTA.
SAFTA came into operation on January 1 this year, but the Tariff Liberalisation Programme started on July 1. All member countries conduct trade with each other on all items, except those in negative list on which duties are not reduced.
Pakistan, however, has decided to trade with India on the basis of a small list of 773 items under a positive list and has also refused to grant it the Most Favoured Nation status.
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