Background
Agriculture is the backbone of Pakistan’s economy. It contributes about 24 per cent1 of Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and accounts for half of the employed labour force. It is also the largest source of foreign exchange earnings.2 The importance of agriculture in terms of its contribution to Pakistan’s economy is overwhelming. In fact, the share of agriculture in Pakistan’s GDP is significantly higher than other countries in South Asia.
As far as international trade in agricultural products is concerned, Pakistan has traditionally been a net food importer, but for the first time in 2013, it had a trade surplus with its exports of agricultural products reaching US$ 5.6 billion.
Major crops produced in Pakistan include wheat, rice, maize, cotton, and sugar cane. Pakistan is also an important producer of fruits and vegetables. Other important agricultural goods cultivated in Pakistan include pulses, chilli, and medicinal herbs. The fisheries sector also has a significant role Pakistan’s economy and particularly for the communities living in the coastal areas.
Realizing the fact that sanitary and phytosanitary standards (SPS) have assumed great importance in international trade and market access, periodic efforts were made to have a more modern SPS management system but due to a lack of resources and the frequent changing of key personnel nothing sustainable was achieved.
Thanks to the European Union Trade Related Technical Assistance (TRTA II) program the situation is improving. Due to the concerted efforts of UNIDO over the last six years (which was tasked with the implementation of the TRTA), a number of initiatives have made good progress. These include drafting a policy paper on SPS controls; establishment of a Federal Regulatory Authority responsible for food safety, animal and plant health and training of concerned personal. These efforts have raised considerable awareness about better management of SPS problems. As a result, rejection of agricultural products exported to other countries has declined significantly. Furthermore, after a lapse of 15 years, Pakistan recently notified to WTO Secretariat various SPS measures which it has taken since 2000 to restrict the import of agricultural commodities.
The establishment of National Animal and Plant Health Inspection Service (NAPHIS) is making some progress but the task has not been easy. One of the difficulties is that due to recent constitutional changes (18th Amendment), the functions of the Federal Ministry of Food and Agriculture have been devolved to the four Provincial Governments and coordination with all the provinces is time consuming.
It is hoped that with the establishment of NAPHIS, coordination with the WTO Committee on SPS will be on more solid footing. But as yet, there is none or very little awareness about the WTO Committee on SPS. A handful of exporters who have some idea of the WTO perceived the Committee as a legislative body for SPS standards setting. Since there was very little knowledge of its peer-review functioning, the survey indicated that none of the exporters has ever taken any interest in the deliberation of this Committee or informing the Ministry of Commerce to take up their SPS issues for discussions at Geneva.
The only instance where Pakistan seems to have successfully used the SPS Committee forum is in 2008 when it raised a Specific Trade Concern (STC) in relation to an import ban imposed by Mexico on rice from Pakistan due to the Khapra beetle. At the March 2010 session of the Committee, Mexico announced that it had removed the absolute restrictions on rice imports and replaced it with partial restrictions.
