The Hindu : Business : India-Pakistan trade: nine areas identified

Online edition of India's National Newspaper
Wednesday, Apr 20, 2005

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India-Pakistan trade: nine areas identified

Special Correspondent

Bilateral trade to touch $10 b by 2010 The proposed council should explore the possibilities for setting up joint ventures

NEW DELHI: Upbeat on the move to expand economic cooperation between India and Pakistan as reflected by the Joint Statement following talks between the Prime Minister, Manmohan Singh, and the Pakistan President, Parvez Musharraf, one of the apex chambers on Tuesday quickly listed nine trading areas for consideration by the proposed Indo-Pak Joint Business Council.

The proposed council should explore the possibilities for setting up joint ventures and provide legal framework for furthering closer trade links between both nations in these areas, Assocham said.

The cotton industry, engineering products, leather, food processing, fisheries, educational institutes, services, information exchange and tourism are the nine areas that could be taken by the proposed body to start with.

"In order to curb the growing unauthorised trade between both the countries, setting up of joint ventures in these nine sectors will not only lead to betterment of our socio-political relationship with Pakistan but also result in increased bilateral trade,'' the Assocham chief, Mahendra K. Sanghi, said. Bilateral trade between India and Pakistan could touch $10 billion by 2010 from $3 billion at present, he said, adding there was enough scope for private sector of both countries to make the required level of fresh investment for modernisation and technological advancements.

The industry body favoured early simplification of the visa procedure besides steps to legalise the unofficial trade and further boost trade and commerce between both countries. Pakistan should also grant the MFN status to India, it demanded. Indian commodities were generally noted for their cheap prices whereas Pakistani goods were qualitatively better. If bilateral trade was increased, producers in both countries could look for price efficiencies by providing lower cost inputs to each other, Mr. Sangh Sanghi added.

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