Cooperative project: Pakistan, India may not disclose any confidential information

India and Pakistan are unlikely to disclose any confidential information exchanged between them in relation to co-operative project, well informed sources in Ministry of Foreign Affairs told Business Recorder here on Thursday.
The sources said New Delhi has rejected the draft of MoU sent by Trade Development Authority of Pakistan (TDAP) and sent a revised draft MoU to be signed between TDAP and Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITOP), probably during the scheduled visit of the business delegation led by Senior Commerce Minister, Makhdum Amin Fahim.
The federal cabinet recently cleared the draft MoU presented by the Ministry of Commerce, the sources said, adding that concurrence of cabinet will also be sought for the revised MoU. According to the MoU that has been revised by India, both countries are desirous of enhancing friendly relations and promoting bilateral co-operation in wide ranging areas on the basis of mutual benefits through diversification and enhancement of trade, which is vital for the progress and prosperity of the two countries and their peoples.
Both countries are also cognisant of the fact that the existing trade volume between the two parties (TDAP and ITPC) is inadequate considering the potential they possess. The different clauses of the MoU are as follows: (i) parties shall cooperate in identifying and discussing areas of export/import potentials and advising on/recommending participation in each other's events/activities in accordance with the objective of enhancing trade and commercial co-operation between the two countries.
Each party shall also advise the other to participate in related seminars and workshops being organised in their country for information and insight into the marketing of specific products and sectors; (ii) the parties shall encourage private sector businesses in their respective countries to participate in trade fairs, exhibitions and seminars (in either country), in which products and services from both countries are featured. Both parties will acknowledge the importance of introducing their products and capabilities to each other through single county exhibitions; (iii) the parties shall promote participation/visitor ship of their industry and trade in each other's trade events by publicizing the information in each other's publications based on press releases issued; (iv) the parties shall notify to each other about the list of fairs and exhibitions that are being organise by them in their respective countries for the purpose of facilitating participation's/visitor ship to these fairs to be followed with the participation brochure of individual events for wide circulation/dissemination among trade and industry in each other's country;(v) both parties shall respect and honour the trade fair regulations of each other and the rules and regulations, terms and conditions related to participation in each other's fairs;(vi) both parties shall facilitate the visits of their respective official trade delegations to each other's dedicated exhibition venues to promote interactions with representatives of participating companies;(vii) the parties shall cooperate in organising training programmes for each others staff/officials and exchange of experts to benefit from the experience of both the institutions in the field of trade promotion activities and techniques.
The parties shall mutually prepare and design an indicative work programme regarding co-operation activities between the two organisations through exchange of letters; (viii) the parties shall organise meetings to be he held at mutually convenient dates and time alternatively in Pakistan and in India, with prior notice to each other, with a view to evaluating and determining the execution of the promotion and co-operation activities, envisaged in this MoU, and studying the most appropriate measures for its implementation;(ix) neither party shall bear any financial obligations except for the reimbursement of expenses agreed in advance for specific actions mutually agreed by the parties;(x) the MoU shall not interfere with the rights and obligations of the parties arising from other international covenants to which they are the parties and ;(xi) the parties shall not disclose or distribute any confidential information exchanged between them in relation to co-operative projects between them, including confidential information provided by each others private sector businesses, without prior consent of all concerned parties.
The present MoU shall come into effect on the date of its signing and be valid for a two-year period. Each party may terminate/rescind the present MoU through a written communication addressed to other Party, with a minimum notice of three months.