World Trade Organization Organisation Mondiale du Commerce Organización Mundial del Comercio

Pakistan 1:

In terms of Reserve Bank of India's "master circular no. 02/2010 11" dated 1^st July 2010 and "Consolidated FDI policy" issued by the Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, Ministry of Commerce and Industry, effective from 1^st April 2011, India is maintaining Non MFN restrictive Domestic Regulations denying Market Access to Pakistan in India's multilaterally committed Trade in Services Regime. India is requested to inform:

a) Whether the Pakistan specific (in certain cases also applicable to some other SAARC countries) Domestic Regulations are WTO compatible.

b) The reasons for maintaining those discriminatory Domestic Regulations; and

c) Is there a roadmap to amend Pakistan specific Domestic Regulations to bring them at par with India's MFN commitments and the indicative timeframe to remove these distortions?

Reply: The policy on FDI has been steadily liberalised and is reviewed from time to time, with a view to increasing its investor friendliness. In keeping with this thrust towards an increasingly open policy environment, country specific restrictions on investment, which had earlier found a place under the policy on FDI, have also been gradually reduced over time.