Federal cabinet rejects ECC proposal to import cotton, sugar from India

The rejection comes a day after ECC allowed to import cotton, cotton yarn and sugar from the neighboring country.

According to details, a meeting of federal cabinet chaired by Prime Minister Imran Khan was held in Islamabad today in which the issue of importing cotton and sugar from India came under discussion.

In this regard, the Ministry of Commerce officials said that Pakistan has to import cotton to meet the shortage and importing cotton and sugar from India will be cheaper.

Opposing the import, the federal cabinet said that the needs should be met from the resources available within the country.

On Wednesday, Economic Coordination Committee (ECC) allowed the import of sugar, cotton and yarn from India.

"The price of sugar in India is lower than in Pakistan so we are importing from there," said Finance Minister Hammad Azhar during a news conference post ECC meeting.

The finance minister said that the decision to import five hundred thousand tonnes of sugar from India will benefit the poor.

"Sometimes tough decisions have to be made and sometimes the right decision is a tough decision. The welfare of the common man will be always a priority of the government. The government is formulating all policies in the interest of the people," he claimed.

When asked to restore trade ties with India and import goods other than sugar and cotton, Azhar said, "We have to see who benefits from Pakistan. There were two immediate things in front of us. It has been decided on them. We will look at other things as well."

Regarding sugar prices, he said that there is a difference of 15 to 20 per cent from India.

It may be recalled that trade between Pakistan and India has been suspended since August 2019.