Welcoming the success of the Saarc summit and singing of 'South Asian Free Trade Agreement' (Safta), Convener LCCI Standing Committee on Customs, Tariff and Valuation, Irfan Qaiser has expressed the hope that this treaty would result in prosperity of the region by boosting mutual trade and economic activities.
Talking to Business Recorder here on Thursday, Irfan said that rationalisation of tariff and duties among the Saarc countries would help checking the menace of smuggling and promote documented trade.
This step would generate revenue for the governments and open business opportunities for the genuine businessmen, he added.
Irfan was of the view that opening of trade between India and Pakistan would help Pakistani industry a lot, as it would be able to get a big market.
Citing example of his own industry, he said that PVC manufacturing plants were not working on their 100-percent capacity due to less demand in the country.
Through Safta agreement, such Pakistani industry could have an opportunity to export the surplus production.
He also said that the industry could also have cheaper raw materials and earlier the trade was being done indirectly. Direct trade would save both precious money and time, he observed.
He added that result of opening of trade would start pouring in within a year and those would be in favour of Pakistan.
However, he said the social charter signed at the Saarc summit should be implemented in a way that every country whether small or big feels satisfied and gets equal chance of economic participation.