Indian Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textile (CITM), Anad Sharma, is reaching Pakistan on Monday (today) on a five-day official visit (February 13-17) with great optimism for normalisation of trade with Pakistan including Most Favoured Nation (MFN) status despite being aware that some key stakeholders in Pakistan want the process to slow down. Shaarma was invited by his Pakistani counterpart, Makhdoom Amin Fahim. He will also be attending the sixth meeting of South Asia Free Trade Area (SAFTA) Ministerial Council.
Indian Minister is scheduled to enter Pakistan from Attari/Wagah border at 9:00am on Monday where he will be received by his Pakistani counterpart. Sharma is scheduled to meet President Asif Ali Zardari, Prime Minister Syed Yousuf Raza Gilani, Governor Punjab Latif Khosa, Chief Minister Shahbaz Sharif, Governor Sindh, Dr Ishrat-ul-Abad, Chief Minister Qaim Ali Shah, besides other official engagements.
Indian High Commission has requested the concerned authorities in Pakistan through Ministry of Foreign Affairs to extend usual courtesies to the CITM and his delegation, in particular to exempt his person and his personal luggage from security clearance. Sharma will lead a large delegation that would include Indian High Commissioner to Pakistan, Sharat Sabharwal, Commerce Secretary Rahul Khullar, Secretary, Department of Industrial Policy and Promotion, P. K. Chaudhry, Joint Secretary (FT-SA), Ministry of Commerce and Industry, PS to Commerce, Industry and Textile Minister, Ashish Kundra and First Secretary, Binay S. Pradhan, Rita Menon, CMD, Indian Trade Promotion Organisation (ITPO) Arvind Mehta, Joint Secretary, Department of Commerce, S. K Reddy, Director (Customs) Dhiraj Singh, Ministry of Commerce, Shri R.V. Kanoria, Dr Rajiv Kumar, Secretary General of Federation of the Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), Sudir Jalan, industry leaders, C. S. Shanay, Arun Nanda, Mrs. Madhu Kanoria, Daisy Sahney, Mrs. Neena Malhotra, R.V.Kanoria, Sunil Munjal, Naresh Goyal, Ranjan Bhati Mittal, Harsh Pati Singhania, V. S. Sahney, K. K Modi, Sudhir Jalan, Dr Jyotsna Suri, Dr Rajiv Kumar, Chandrajit Banerjee and Ms. Ambika Sharma.