Indian Minister for Commerce, Industry and Textile, Anand Sharma, has said that a roadmap of trade between Pakistan and India has been evolved and efforts are being made to implement it. Addressing members of Karachi Chamber of Commerce and Industry (KCCI) on Tuesday, he expressed hope that with the increase in trade between the two countries political issues would also ease and foster peace.
Referring to visa liberalisation, he said that at present visa on medical grounds is issued in no time. He said both sides are working on visa liberalisation and have already exchanged proposed visa liberalisation drafts with each other. Multiple visas for many cities will be issued to business community after approval of draft proposals, he added. Referring to most favoured nation (MFN) status to India, he said that under WTO condition nations allow MFN status to each order.
On the issue of negative list, Sharma said that the issue had been discussed in Islamabad at length. He expressed hope that both countries would be able to move forward faster this year than last year to normalise bilateral trade. There should be more trade and co-operation in textile, engineering items, entertainment industry, textile, agriculture, tourism, especially regional trade and tourism, he added.
He termed the ongoing dialogue on trade liberalisation as a positive sign to promote bilateral trade and joint ventures. Regarding energy crisis, he said that India is also an energy-deficit country and it has recently initiated civilian nuclear energy program to overcome its energy crisis. Concerning hurdles in trade between India and Pakistan, he said that efforts are being made through dialogue as continues' interaction has helped in bridging the difficulties in trade between the two countries.
Anand Sharma said that Pakistan and India have many similarities. They have same crops, like sugar, cotton, wheat and others, and have similar problems, and added that both countries can cooperate in these sectors. The Indian commerce minister expressed hope that banking channel between India and Pakistan will start working soon. The Indian Minister was scheduled to arrive at 1.30 pm in Karachi from Lahore. However, his flight was delayed, and he arrived at KCCI meeting when the meeting was over at 5 pm and all guests had departed except a few.
The President of the Federation of Indian Chambers of Commerce and Industry (FICCI), RVKanria, has agreed to a suggestion that trade between India and Pakistan should be conducted in their local currency. He appreciated the suggestion of Chairman of Sindh Board of Investment, Zubair Motiwala, and said that it is a good suggestion that trade should be conducted in India, Pakistan rupees, instead dollars and euro.
He said that trade between the two countries has been low and there has been a tremendous uncapped potential. He said opening up trade will benefit Pakistan in a big way and Indian trade through Pakistan land route with Afghanistan and Central Asian countries will increase which will ultimately benefit Pakistan as well.
He said: "Up till now we want to have peace for trade", and added that "now it is time to initiate full-fledged trade, for peace". President of Confederation of Indian Industry (CII), B Muthuraman, said: "We have many complementations, including geographical proximity, similarity in culture and language, common history, etc, which must set us an added advantage to build a trade development strategy".
He pointed out a number of areas including agriculture, IT, skill development and many, many other areas in which both countries can join hands in trade and investment. He said that Indian side will continue to work with Pakistan's business community to develop trade.
He emphasised the need of allowing mobile rooming service to send massages. Zubair Motiwala suggested that trade between India and Pakistan should be conducted in their local currency instead of dollars and euro. He further suggested that on the recommendations of Bombay Chamber and Karachi Chamber, country visa for business community should be issued for one year.
He also suggested that a mediation centre should be established having one member of each chamber of Bombay and Karachi, one each representative of customs and judiciary. He regarded that whereas the intra-regional trade in European Union (EU) is 56 percent and in Asean 26 percent, in Saarc it is hardly 5 percent. He emphasised the need of increasing regional trade. Leader of Businessmen Group (BMG), Siraj Kassim Teli emphasised that the governments of both countries should make a commitment that what has been achieved, must not be undone in the event of disruption in the ongoing dialogue for resolving all disputed issues.
He was of the view that Pakistan must grant MFN status to India, without any delay. President KCCI, Abrar Ahmed said that last year the talks on commercial and economic co-operation between commerce secretaries and the commerce ministers of India and Pakistan melted the cold ice between two countries and accelerated the pace of confidence-building measures (CBMs) to increase trade and economic engagement while realising the full potential.